Neil and Buzz were well below 2000 feet in their descent before Neil could study the landing area. “Pretty rocky area,” Neil said. He knew that overflying the programmed landing area was going to add risk to an already risky enterprise. Were the landing conditions up ahead any better than right here?

So Neil pitched upright to slow his descent and to get eagle moving faster beyond the boulder field. Even buzz seemed a bit surprised. The rest is history. With billions of humans 240,000 miles away back on planet earth holding their breath, Neil and Buzz touched down at tranquility base with only 42 seconds of fuel remaining. - AB