Thread by @AFP

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the moment the moon pioneer Neil Armstrong took his historic first step on the lunar surface 🚀🌕 u.afp.com/JhAE #Apollo50th

From the Soviet Union's pioneering satellite to the first man on the Moon 50 years ago, here are 10 key dates in space exploration 🚀🌕 u.afp.com/Jn6L
#Apollo50th

The first four days of Apollo 11's journey to the Moon had gone according to plan, but just twenty minutes before landing, the atmosphere grew tense as the crew encountered a series of problems u.afp.com/Jnwr by @ivancouronne
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Here is how AFP reported Neil Armstrong’s first step onto the Moon, translated from the original French from July 20, 1969 🚀🌕 u.afp.com/Jn6e #Apollo50th

Experts now believe nearly 700 million people, a fifth of the planet's population at the time, gathered around TV sets to watch Neil Armstrong take his first step on the Moon 📺👨‍🚀 u.afp.com/Jn6Y #Apollo50th

"It changed the course of history and for me it demonstrated the fact that the seemingly impossible is actually possible.” Astronaut Dafydd Williams is among those who told AFP what watching the Apollo 11 landing meant to them u.afp.com/Jn68 #Apollo50th

Here are the key moments in the fifty years of space travel since Moon pioneer Neil Armstrong took his historic first step on the lunar surface 🚀🌕 #Apollo50th

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Neil Armstrong. These are the crewed US missions to the moon over the history of space exploration 🚀 #Apollo50th

Twelve American men walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972, with most describing in great detail their experiences on the dusty, low-gravity world lit by the blinding light of the Sun. Here are their impressions u.afp.com/JeK3 #Apollo50th

The Apollo 11 mission was the catalyst for profound scientific and engineering breakthroughs -- from freeze-dried foods to medical breakthroughs u.afp.com/JeRU #Apollo50th

The moon now has hundreds of artifacts. Should they be protected? u.afp.com/Jh5R #Apollo50th

The Apollo missions were the first time a computer was entrusted with handling flight control and life support systems -- the very lives of astronauts
u.afp.com/Jn5c by @IssamAhmed
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@IssamAhmed After Neil Armstrong took a "giant leap for mankind" on the Moon, Richard Nixon presented lunar souvenirs to every nation, 135, at the time.

Some have gone missing, and Joseph Gutheinz Jr is on a mission to find them

u.afp.com/Jn6D by @dclefkow
#Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow 🌕 Moon rocks hold pride of place in museums and scientific institutions, but many others have either gone missing, were stolen or were even destroyed u.afp.com/JhP4 #Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow AFP compiled the stories of some of the missing goodwill moon rocks u.afp.com/Jnti #Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow 🌕 Moon rocks look rather nondescript -- they are often gray in color -- but for NASA planetary scientist Samuel Lawrence, they are the "most precious materials on Earth" u.afp.com/Jntc
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@IssamAhmed @dclefkow VIDEO: 🌕 Visitors wandering around Washington National Cathedral can be treated to an unusual sight: a 3.6 billion-year-old moon rock, encased in one of the cathedral's windows
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@IssamAhmed @dclefkow VIDEO: 🌕👨‍🚀 The spacesuit that US astronaut Neil Armstrong wore 50 years ago during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon is unveiled at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington #Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow It was the biggest piece of supposed fake news before the term "fake news" was even invented -- millions of people across the world still believe that no one has ever walked on the Moon u.afp.com/Jhwr by @FredericPouchot
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@IssamAhmed @dclefkow @FredericPouchot Literature, novels, cinema... from antiquity to the present, the Moon has been the object of any number of imaginary expeditions u.afp.com/JntW by @LCoustal #Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow @FredericPouchot @LCoustal Sue Finley, 82, is one of NASA's longest-serving women, starting out as one of its "human computers," whose critical yet long-hidden contributions to the space program, including the Apollo missions, are finally being recognized u.afp.com/JnrY by @issamahmed #Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow @FredericPouchot @LCoustal 👨‍🚀🛰️ The history of space exploration, on the 50 anniversary of the first human steps on the moon by Neil Armstrong 👨‍🚀🛰️
#Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow @FredericPouchot @LCoustal More than fifty years after the end of the Apollo program, NASA plans to return to the Moon by 2024 as a "proving ground" to test the next generation of spacecraft ahead of an eventual crewed mission to Mars 👩‍🚀 u.afp.com/JntQ #Apollo50th

@IssamAhmed @dclefkow @FredericPouchot @LCoustal 🌕 This is how the US plans to return to the moon soon -- NASA’s Artemis program will establish a mini-space station orbiting the Moon before landing on the surface in 2024 #Apollo50th