America held its breath as Apollo 11 safely launched

The successful launch of three astronauts set the U.S. on course for a lunar landing four days later and an unprecedented attempt to put the first humans on the moon’s surface

Catapulting humans out of Earth’s atmosphere was nothing new by the end of the 1960s — the country had been doing it since Alan Shepard became the first American in space eight years prior. But July 16, 1969 was different. On that day, NASA officials were so close to achieving President John F. Kennedy’s moonshot they could taste it.

He wanted American astronauts on the moon by 1970. And Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins had just rocketed into space in the hopes of achieving that goal six months early.

An estimated one million people gathered on beaches across Florida to watch the Apollo 11 launch that day, and millions more watched from their living rooms.

Launch eyewitnesses have told the Houston Chronicle that the air was charged with excitement — that everyone was looking forward to an end of the Space Race with the Soviet Union.

That race began in October 1957, when the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite and sent the country into hysterics. Everyone feared that their arch nemesis had gotten the upper hand technologically and militarily.

By July 16, 1969, more than a decade had passed since Sputnik. The Russians were nowhere in sight, even failing to land several probes on the moon without humans aboard in the weeks leading up to the Apollo 11 launch.

In just four days, Armstrong and Aldrin were expected to take their first steps on the moon.

They would make history, proving that America was a superpower to be reckoned with.

But the race to the moon did more than that. It inspired countless kids to pursue degrees in science, engineering, math and technology, now known as STEM. It even resulted in technological achievements that were applicable here on Earth — the microchip, for example.

But America still held its breath as these three heroes headed to the moon. They weren’t out of the woods yet.