Eagle in Lunar Orbit
At 1:28 p.m. EDT on July 19, 1969, NASA's Apollo 11 fired its service module engine and went into orbit around the moon. A day later the lunar module Eagle, seen in lunar orbit above, touched down in the Sea of Tranquility. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin later spent two and a half hours walking on the moon, while their crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia. Collins took the photo above through Columbia's window, before the descent to the surface.
The long "rod-like" protrusions under the legs are lunar surface sensing probes. Upon contact with the lunar surface, the probes sent a signal to the crew to shut down the descent engine.
Image Credit: NASA
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