Apollo 11 Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States. The bill was sponsored by Florida Senator Bill Nelson and Florida Representative Alan Grayson. A group of British scientists interviewed as part of the anniversary events reflected on the significance of the Moon landing: Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two people on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module "Eagle" on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface six hours after landing on
Apollo command and service module a retrorocket to perform the deorbit burn for Earth orbital Apollo flights. The engine selected was the AJ10-137, which used Aerozine 50 as fuel and nitrogen tetroxide (NO) as oxidizer to produce of thrust. The thrust level was twice what was needed to accomplish the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission mode, because the engine was originally sized to lift the CSM off of the lunar surface in the direct ascent mode assumed in original planning (see Choosing a mission mode.) A contract was signed in April 1962 for the Aerojet-General company to start developing the engine, before the LOR mode