To The Moon! Apollo 11 Liftoff

On this day, July 16, in 1969, a Saturn V rocket — still the most powerful rocket ever built — launched Apollo 11 on its historic journey to take astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the Moon — the first two becoming the first humans to ever step foot on another world four days later.

 

The video above is the original NASA broadcast footage of the Saturn V launch from Kennedy Space Center (look for the shockwave at 1:14!) Below is something even more incredible — a remote camera video from the pad showing the rocket launch close-up, at 500 frames per second!