Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Plan Your Trip
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2020

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2020. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
  • Plan Your Trip

    Plan Your Trip

    • Travel Guides
    • Flight Deals
    • Travel Deals
    • Ways to Save
    • Hotels + Resorts
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Disney Vacations
    • Festivals + Events
    • Airlines + Airports
    • Buses + Trains
    • Ground Transportation
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Trip Ideas
  3. Space Travel + Astronomy
  4. Where to Go to Celebrate Man's Landing on the Moon

Where to Go to Celebrate Man's Landing on the Moon

By Jamie Carter
July 19, 2016
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Courtesy of NASA
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on another world, followed soon after by the second, Buzz Aldrin. Meanwhile, Michael Collins orbited the Moon in the Columbia module, desperate for the Eagle to return safely with his colleagues so he could take them back to Earth.

It was the ultimate in adventure travel, and though many summers have slipped by since Apollo 11's fateful mission, you can tour some of the facilities, the landmarks, and the relics that together culminated in mankind's one giant leap (and it's not a bad reason to tour the U.S. and beyond, too).
Start Slideshow

1 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

The Columbia module

Credit: Eric Long/National Air and Space Museum/Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

On July 20, 1969, the Eagle landed on the lunar surface, and there it stayed, but you can visit the Columbia command module that carried Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins to the Moon and back.

The only piece of spaceflight hardware that returned from the Moon, Columbia is housed in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's awesome Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall.

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

NASA Mission Control

Credit: Courtesy of Kennedy Space Center

Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” Those words—the first from another world—were uttered by Neil Armstrong to CAPCOM Charles Duke sitting in Mission Control in Houston, Texas. The tram tour at Johnson Space Center visits the all-important Mission Operations Control Room 2 as well as a Saturn V rocket designed for the cancelled Apollo 19.

2 of 10

3 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Launch Pad 39A

Credit: Courtesy of NASA

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969, Launch Pad 39A was where a Saturn V rocket lifted off carrying the Apollo 11 crew to the Moon, and a place in history.

That launch, and the Moon landing itself, are simulated in the Visitors Center's theaters, while bus tours take space-tourists to Launch Pad 39A, which also hosted over 20 space shuttle launches and is currently leased by SpaceX.

3 of 10

Advertisement

4 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Saturn V rocket

Credit: Pic du Midi

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

There's plenty more to see at the Kennedy Space Center; the Visitor Complex also houses a complete 363-foot-tall Saturn V rocket, the largest ever built and exactly the same as that used by Apollo 11. Other artifacts include Apollo 14's command module, unused service and landing modules and, oh, only Space Shuttle Atlantis.

4 of 10

5 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

“The Dish”

Credit: CSIRO/Shaun Amy

CSIRO Parkes Observatory, New South Wales, Australia

The Apollo programme was a global effort in lots of ways, not least in getting the ground-breaking live TV images back to Earth, arguably the most important part of the entire endeavour.

Immortalised in the movie The Dish in 2000, the 204-foot dish at Parkes was one of three antennas used to relay the slow-scan live images from the Moon to an estimated 500 million people, but in the end delivered almost the entire broadcast.

5 of 10

6 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Pic du Midi de Bigorre Observatory

Credit: Courtesy of NASA

Pic du Midi, Hautes-Pyrénées, France

In the early 1960s, one of the biggest questions of all for NASA was where on the Moon to land, so they set about mapping as much of the satellite's surface as possible in search of a juicy crater or two.

Perched atop a mountain in the French Pyrenees, the Pic du Midi observatory at 9,439 feet up was fitted with a 42-inch telescope in 1963, paid for by NASA, to take photographs of the Moon. It's a fabulous place to visit; its Nuit au sommet package consists of dinner, unbeatable stargazing and a night in the scientists' quarters.

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

The “Lunar Analogue”

Credit: Courtesy of Lowell Observatory

Flagstaff, Arizona

Apollo astronauts were brilliant pilots, but knew nothing of geology. Cue extensive training by scientists in the most Moon-like environments of “magnificent desolation” NASA could find—the San Francisco volcanic field in northern Arizona.

The main “lunar analogue” areas were in Sunset Crater National Monument, about 15 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona. At Cinder Lake, NASA used dynamite to create Crater Field 1 and Crater Field 2. The first is the best preserved. Astronauts also visited nearby Lowell Observatory, which also produced over 100 moon maps for the Apollo program.

7 of 10

8 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Apollo 11's recovery ship

Credit: Courtesy of NASA

USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum, Alameda, California

It may have been the Columbia capsule that brought Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins back to Earth, but it was the USS Hornet that found them in the Pacific Ocean after their splashdown southwest of Hawaii at 11:49 a.m. (CDT) on July 24, 1969.

This Essex-class aircraft carrier, built and used during World War II, was the recovery ship for both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12, and has on display memorabilia, photos, and a Mobile Quarantine Facility exactly like the one the Apollo 11 astronauts were locked inside of while on the USS Hornet in case they were carrying Moon pathogens (though actually it's from Apollo 14).

8 of 10

9 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Buzz's favourite vacation spot

Credit: Gili Lankanfushi

Gili Lankanfushi’s Private Reserve, the Maldives

Once you've been around all the Apollo 11 landmarks, you'll need some R&R.

“Everyone needs space,” said the second man on the Moon, but this time he's talking about the largest overwater villa in the world at Gili Lankanfushi in the Maldives.

With its own 63-metre fresh water swimming pool, jacuzzi, butler and personal chef (rates from $11,000-$23,630 per night), this is the kind if place you get to stay if you're in the Moon-club, but Buzz insists he likes it for the scuba diving: “Scuba diving in the ocean has a similar freedom to being in space, particularly when you’re upside down,” he said. If anyone asks him to point out Tranquility Base, it's no problem—there's a telescope on hand, too.

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 10

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Neil Armstrong's spacesuit

Credit: Courtesy of NASA

Armstrong Air and Space Museum, Wapakoneta, Ohio

Although this museum is all about Ohio's contributions to spaceflight, it's no accident that it's located in the hometown of Neil Armstrong.

As such, it's an Apollo 11 geek fest, with the commander's Apollo 11 space suit the clear highlight. However, it's also got some moon rock, the Armstrong-piloted Gemini 8 spacecraft and even the small plane in which the great man learned to fly.

10 of 10

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Jamie Carter

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 10 The Columbia module
2 of 10 NASA Mission Control
3 of 10 Launch Pad 39A
4 of 10 Saturn V rocket
5 of 10 “The Dish”
6 of 10 Pic du Midi de Bigorre Observatory
7 of 10 The “Lunar Analogue”
8 of 10 Apollo 11's recovery ship
9 of 10 Buzz's favourite vacation spot
10 of 10 Neil Armstrong's spacesuit

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

Where to Go to Celebrate Man's Landing on the Moon
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.