This March 30, 1969. photograph made available by NASA shows the crew of the Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, lunar module pilot.

Here are the complete articles that started on the front page of the Butler Eagle, published July 21, 1969.

TWO AMERICANS FULFILL AGE-OLD DREAM OF MAN

BULLETIN

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) — Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. — the first men to walk on the moon — fired the engine to blast themselves off the lunar surface today.

“Beautiful,” said Aldrin as the engine ignited. “Very quite ride.”

The Apollo 11 astronauts ignited the single do-or-die engine of their fragile landing craft after nearly 22 hours on the moon.

They left behind the four-legged descent stage.

Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. at Tranquillity Base on the moon and plunged into systems checks on the lander and engine on which, again, they will stake their lives. The bottom section of the craft, with the four landing legs, will serve as a launch pad and will be left on the moon when they fire the single engine that powers the cabin section of the ship called Eegle (sic).The firing, scheduled to last more than seven minutes, was set for 1:54 p.m. EDT.Mission control awakened the moonmen shortly after 11 a.m. following a six-hour rest period. Instruments which monitored Armstrong during the night indicated he slept fitfully. There is only one set of biomedical instruments in the cabin so Aldrin was not monitored.Sleeping in the cramped quarters of the LM is difficult and Aldrin reported: “ Neil has been lying on the engine cover and I curled up on the floor.”Checking the systems and switch settings for the critical liftoff was the No. 1 priority after wakeup.A successful liftoff would shoot them into lunar orbit to chase down Michael Collins, orbiting some 65 miles overhead in the Apollo 11 command ship.Once linked up, they plan to fire themselves back toward earth early Tuesday, ending a space odyssey in which they etched their names beside those of history's great explorers, Columbus, Balboa, Magellan, da Gama and Byrd.Through the magic of television, an estimated 500 million people around the world had a ringside seat to man's greatest adventure.It was unforgettable.Armstrong climbed through the LM hatch and started backing down a nine-rung ladder. On the second rung from the bottom, he opened a compartment exposing a television camera.The picture was black and white and somewhat jerky, but it recorded history.Among scientists, there was elation that the crew had landed in an area with a variety of rocks, a treasure that held at least the hope of a rich payoff in the search to learn more about moon and earth.As Armstrong planted his size 9½ left boot on the powdery surface at 10:56 p.m. Sunday, he spoke words that will be remembered for all time: “That's one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.”The camera trained on Aldrin as he stepped on the far shore 20 minutes later and exclaimed: “Beautiful! Beautiful! Magnificent desolation.”There were other memorable utterances during the day of high adventure.There were Armstrong's words when Eagle separated from the command ship to start the dangerous descent: “The Eagle is flying.”There were Armstrong's — and man's — first words from the moon's surface after touchdown at 4:18 p.m.: “Houston ... Tranquillity base here. The Eagle has landed.”Or when Aldrin, a deeply religious man, relayed this message to the world shortly after landing: “This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening, whoever, wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.”They planted an American flag and saluted it, but made it plain they came into the moon as ambassadors for all mankind.APOLLO CREW FINDS VARIETY OF MOON ROCKSBy ALTON BLAKESLEEAssociated Press Science WriterSPACE CENTER, Houston, (AP) — The Apollo astronauts struck paydirt in their prospecting on the moon.Their luck especially was in finding a great variety of different rocks, which could tell much about the moon's age and origin.They saw a curious purple rock and perhaps put it in one of the two treasure chests they are bringing home.And they cored out a five-inch sample of lunar soil that “looks moist,” a suggestion there might be water and so perhaps microscopic life beneath the moon's surface. But the moist, dark appearance could simply from tight packing of fine particles of material, cautions David McKay, geologist of the Manned Spacecraft Center.They found the crust of the moon much harder than numerous geologists and astronomers expected they would. It took work to dig out two core samples and to plant the American flag.They found rocks that look like basalt, born of volcanoes, and rocks resembling biotite, a dark colored mica that usually contains two to four per cent water. They found the surface dusty, getting their boots cocoa brown with it.They set up a seismometer which soon was recording moon tremors, although these might be only from the footsteps of the astronauts, especially when they cavorted on the desert-like moon like kids in a playground.If the moon still shimmies after they leave today, scientists think the ultra-sensitive instruments can tell them if the quakes come from volcanic activity, or hits by meteorites.Incredibly calm most of the time, the astronauts performed well their role as good observers specially trained in geology.Medically, their excursion showed the moon to be not so fearful a place as cautious planners had had to paint it.The men surprised doctors and others by their quick adaptation to the moon's low gravity. Their energy expenditure in their tasks was within the limits shown in their earth training, said Dr. Willard R. Hawkins, a flight surgeon.Once, Neil Armstrong's heartbeat rose to 160 per minute, but this was called not critical, and Clifford Charlesworth, flight director, said it occurred when he was doing his hardest labors.There were no indications the astronauts were hit by tiny micrometeroites.Scientists were particularly delighted that the astronauts landed in an area with a great variety of rock types, as Edwin Aldrin described it.“Landing near a crater is an unusual opportunity to collect rock samples which come from considerable depths (thrown out by meteoric impact) in comparison to the surface rocks,” said Dr. Gerard P. Kuiper of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Labor in Flagstaff. “This is an opportunity to pick up lunar lava in a scientifically perfect spot.”LUNA 15 SITS ON MOON, JODRELL SAYSBULLETINJODRELL BANK, England (AP) — Russia apparently landed its unmanned Luna 15 space probe on the moon today just as American astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. prepared to take off, Jodrell Bank Observatory reported.Astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell said the probe transmitted signals “appropriate to a landing” and it appeared the unmanned craft had left orbit and touched down on the moon.

Jodrell Bank, England (AP) — Luna 15 spun into its fifth day around the moon today, still with no sign of the spectacular feats some had expected from the Soviet unmanned probed.Sir Bernard Lovell, director of Jodrell Bank's radio telescope observatory, said signals from the probe were picked up shortly after moonrise about 8 a.m. EDT, when Luna was in its 50th orbit.Among the maneuvers that had been predicted for Luna were a moon landing and retrieval of lunar rock and a round trip to earth from lunar orbit.MILLIONS WATCHED MOON ANTICSBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThey were shining hours. Americans landed on the moon and walked its rocky surface while millions of their countrymen locked their attention on television and radio sets on a July Sunday that will live in history.It was also a Sunday on which hippies romped nude in a California stream, American GIs fought on in Vietnam, babies were born, highways took their toll, cheers rose from excited crowds, a Wyoming woman laughed uncontrollably, Indians broke into a victory dance.For others, there were periods of reflection and prayer.In her home at Worcester, Mass., the widow of rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard sat alone and watched television as man stepped on the moon for the first time.When a newsman phoned she said, “ I'm sorry ... I'd rather be by myself ... you understand.”A soft rain fell at Auburn, Mass., where Goddard fired his first liquid fueled rocket in 1926.In New York, some 3,000 people watched the moon landing at a huge television screen at Kennedy International Airport. Hundreds crowded in front of another big screen at the Time-Life Building arross (sic) from Radio City Music Hall. An estimated 4,000 watched the three huge TV screens erected in Central Park.Across the nation, in Anaheim, Calif., 80 members of the Soviet Union's track and field team saw the moon landing on Disneyland TV screen.In Burbank, Calif., an ice cream company, moments after Neil A. Armstrong first stepped on the moon, started dishing out a new flavor called Lunar Cheese Cake.In Nevada gaming cities of Las Vegas and Reno, gamblers were asked to halt the action briefly. In Las Vegas, a stripper at the Silver Slipper Casino Peeled a simulated space suit, and at Reno's Harrah's Cub, they pushed a new drink, the Moonshot Cocktail.

These July 20, 1969, photographs taken by astronaut Neil Armstrong and made available by NASA feature astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. and the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 mission.

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Aldrin and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong were the first men to walk on the lunar surface with temperatures ranging from 243 degrees above to 279 degrees below zero. Astronaut Michael Collins flew the command module.