Direct answer: Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, not on Earth. The descent happened in the Sea of Tranquility on the lunar surface, and the crew returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.
Details:
- Landing site: Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) on the Moon [cite ].
- Landing vehicle: the Lunar Module Eagle, which touched down at 20:17 UTC on July 20, 1969 [cite ].
- Why “Earth” question comes up: some sources describe Earth-based observations and Earth-Moon geography, but the event itself occurred on the Moon, not on Earth [cite ].
Further reading if you want precise lunar coordinates and nearby craters:
- Apollo 11 landing coordinates and nearby features are documented in NASA and lunar-spot catalogs; visualizations show the site near Sabine and Ritter craters in Mare Tranquillitatis [cite ][cite ].
Sources
Where did the Apollo astronauts land, and what did they do on the surface of the Moon? Sue Nelson explores what the Moon-walking astronauts got up to.
www.skyatnightmagazine.comNASA chose the Apollo 11 landing site for engineering simplicity, but it had scientific benefits nevertheless.
jatan.spaceForty years after the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the descent stage of the Eagle lunar module.
science.nasa.govForty years after the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the descent stage of the Eagle lunar module.
earthobservatory.nasa.govThe six Apollo landing sites as imager by LROC revisiting_apollo_landing_sites_LROC_print.jpg (1024x576) [174.3 KB] revisiting_apollo_landing_sites_LROC.png (3840x2160) [6.2 MB] revisiting_apollo_landing_sites_LROC_searchweb.png (320x180) [51.2 KB] revisiting_apollo_landing_sites_LROC_thm.png (80x40) [3.6 KB] revisiting_apollo_landing_sites_LROC.hwshow [121 bytes]
svs.gsfc.nasa.govThis lunar map is a mosaic of images taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft. The image shows the landing site of Apollo 11 and three prominent craters in the vicinity which have been named in honour of the astronauts on board the first mission to land humans on the Moon.
sci.esa.intThe spot where Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon is visible from Earth and is easy to spot through a telescope, provided you know how.
www.skyatnightmagazine.comPhotos taken by the India Space Research Organization moon orbiter Chandrayaan 2 recently show aerial images of Apollo 11 and Apollo 12's lunar landing vehicles.
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