Editing Apollo 11 (section)

=== Launch and flight to lunar orbit ===

[[File:Apollo 11 Launch - GPN-2000-000630.jpg|alt=|thumb|The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. at 9:32&nbsp;am. EDT July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A.]]

An estimated one million spectators watched the launch of Apollo 11 from the highways and beaches in the vicinity of the launch site. Dignitaries included the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]], [[General (United States)|General]] [[William Westmoreland]], four [[Cabinet of the United States|cabinet members]], 19 [[Governor (United States)|state governors]], 40 [[Mayoralty in the United States|mayors]], 60 ambassadors and 200 [[congressmen]]. Vice President [[Spiro Agnew]] viewed the launch with former president [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and his wife [[Lady Bird Johnson]].{{sfn|Benson|Faherty|1978|p=474}}{{sfn|Bilstein|1980|pp=369–370}} Around 3,500 media representatives were present.{{sfn|Brooks|Grimwood|Swenson|1979|p=338}} About two-thirds were from the United States; the rest came from 55 other countries. The launch was televised live in 33 countries, with an estimated 25&nbsp;million viewers in the United States alone. Millions more around the world listened to radio broadcasts.{{sfn|Bilstein|1980|pp=369–370}}{{sfn|Benson|Faherty|1978|p=474}} President [[Richard Nixon]] viewed the launch from his office in the [[White House]] with his NASA liaison officer, Apollo astronaut [[Frank Borman]].<ref>{{cite web |title=President Richard Nixon's Daily Diary |url=https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/PDD/1969/013%20July%2016-31%201969.pdf |publisher=Richard Nixon Presidential Library |access-date=September 3, 2018 |page=2 |date=July 16, 1969 |archive-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104030153/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/PDD/1969/013%20July%2016-31%201969.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Lodging near Cape Canaveral was reported as being booked months ahead in advance for the launch by a Florida newspaper.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Jan |date=July 4, 1969 |title=Apollo 11-Launch To Draw 1-Million |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlVQAAAAIBAJ&dq=Apollo+launch+Florida&pg=PA2&article_id=7068,896931 |access-date=February 5, 2025 |work=[[St. Petersburg Independent]] |pages=3A |via=Google News Archive}}</ref>

Saturn V AS-506 launched Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969, at 13:32:00 [[UTC]] (9:32:00 [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]]).<ref name="Mission Overview" /> At 13.2 seconds into the flight, the launch vehicle began to [[Roll program|roll]] into its [[flight azimuth]] of 72.058°. Full shutdown of the first-stage engines occurred about 2&nbsp;minutes and 42 seconds into the mission, followed by separation of the S-IC and ignition of the S-II engines. The second stage engines then cut off and separated at about 9&nbsp;minutes and 8&nbsp;seconds, allowing the first ignition of the S-IVB engine a few seconds later.{{sfn|Orloff|2000|p=106}}

Apollo 11 entered a [[elliptic orbit|near-circular Earth orbit]] at an altitude of {{convert|100.4|nmi|km}} by {{convert|98.9|nmi|km}}, twelve minutes into its flight. After one and a half orbits, a second ignition of the S-IVB engine pushed the spacecraft onto its trajectory toward the Moon with the [[trans-lunar injection]] (TLI) burn at 16:22:13 UTC. About 30 minutes later, with Collins in the left seat and at the controls, the [[transposition, docking, and extraction]] maneuver was performed. This involved separating ''Columbia'' from the spent S-IVB stage, turning around, and docking with ''Eagle'' still attached to the stage. After the LM was extracted, the combined spacecraft headed for the Moon, while the rocket stage flew on a trajectory past the Moon.{{sfn|Collins|2001|pp=374–375}}{{sfn|Orloff|2000|p=106}} This was done to avoid the third stage colliding with the spacecraft, the Earth, or the Moon. A [[Gravity assist|slingshot effect]] from passing around the Moon threw it into an [[heliocentric orbit|orbit around the Sun]].{{sfn|Marshall Space Flight Center|1969|p=7}}

On July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC, Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter [[lunar orbit]].{{sfn|Orloff|2000|p=106}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap11fj/11day4-loi1.html|title=Day 4, part 1: Entering Lunar Orbit|publisher=Apollo Flight Journal|date=February 10, 2017|access-date=July 14, 2019|last1=Woods|first1=W. David|last2=MacTaggart|first2=Kenneth D.|last3=O'Brien|first3=Frank|via=NASA|archive-date=February 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227062352/https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap11fj/11day4-loi1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the thirty orbits that followed, the crew saw passing views of their landing site in the southern Sea of Tranquility about {{convert|12|mi|km}} southwest of the crater [[Collins (crater)|Sabine D]]. The site was selected in part because it had been characterized as relatively flat and smooth by the automated [[Ranger 8]] and [[Surveyor 5]] landers and the Lunar Orbiter mapping spacecraft, and because it was unlikely to present major landing or EVA challenges.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/A11_PressKit.pdf |title=Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission |date=July 6, 1969 |publisher=NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |type=Press kit |id=Release No: 69-83K |access-date=June 13, 2013 |archive-date=August 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130811082927/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/A11_PressKit.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> It lay about {{convert|25|km|sp=us}} southeast of the Surveyor&nbsp;5 landing site, and {{convert|68|km|sp=us}} southwest of Ranger&nbsp;8's crash site.{{sfn|Mission Evaluation Team|1969|p=130}}