Neil Armstrong
Armstrong's first words were declared after he said "I'm going to step off the LM now." He then turned and set his boot on the surface.[48] When Armstrong made his proclamation, Voice of America was rebroadcast live via the BBC and many other stations the world over. The global audience at that moment was estimated at 450 million listeners,[49] out of a then estimated world population of 3.631 billion people.[50] The simple "one small step..." statement came from a train of thought that Armstrong had after launch and during the hours after landing.[51]
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Armstrong prepares to take the first step on the Moon.
About 15 minutes after the first step, Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface and became the second human to set foot on the Moon. The duo began their tasks of investigating how easily a person could operate on the lunar surface. Early on they also unveiled a plaque commemorating their flight, and also planted the flag of the United States. The flag used on this mission had a metal rod to hold it horizontal from its pole. Since the rod did not fully extend, and the flag was tightly folded and packed during the journey, the flag ended up with a slightly wavy appearance, as if there were a breeze.[52] On Earth there had been some discussion as to whether it was appropriate to plant the flag at all, something about which Armstrong did not care. He did think that any flag should have been left to drape as it would on Earth, but decided it wasn't worth making a big deal about. Slayton had warned Armstrong that they would receive a special communication, but did not tell him that President Richard Nixon would contact them just after the flag planting. Aldrin later gave the flag planting and
Armstrong works at the Apollo Lunar Module in one of the few photos showing him during the EVA.
subsequent phone call from President Nixon as reasons why there were no intentional photographs of Armstrong. In the entire Apollo 11 photographic record, there are only five images of Armstrong partly shown or reflected. Aldrin said plans were to take a photo of Armstrong after the famous image of Aldrin was taken, but they were interrupted by the Nixon communication. There were just over five minutes between these two events. The mission was planned to the minute, with the majority of photographic tasks to be performed by Armstrong with their single Hasselblad camera.
After helping to set up the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package, Armstrong went for a walk to what is now known as East Crater, 65 yards (60 m) east of the LM, the greatest distance traveled from the LM on the mission. Armstrong's final task was to leave a small