Apollo 11 Apollo 11. The initial crew assignment of Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Buzz Aldrin on the backup crew for Apollo 9 was officially announced on November 20, 1967. Lovell and Aldrin had previously flown together as the crew of Gemini 12. Due to design and manufacturing delays in the LM, Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 swapped prime and backup crews, and Armstrong's crew became the backup for Apollo 8. Based on the normal crew rotation scheme, Armstrong was then expected to command Apollo 11. There would be one change. Michael Collins,
Apollo 11 lunar sample display the United Nations that were to receive these displays. Each display included Moon dust from the Apollo 11 first manned lunar landing mission that were collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. The rice-sized particles were four small pieces of Moon soil weighing about 50 mg total and were enveloped in a clear acrylic button about as big as a United States half dollar coin. This acrylic button magnified the grains of lunar pebbles. The Apollo 11 lunar sample displays were given out as goodwill gifts by Nixon in 1970. Lunar dust soil from the