Apollo 11

Apollo 11's flight is broadcast on television. (TV: Day of the Moon)

Apollo 11 was an American Earth spacecraft which landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969. Humans regarded this as the first Moon landing.

Overview

History

Motivations for the landing

Around 1959, a group of aliens had landed on the Moon and sent a transmission to Earth. They requested a meeting with humans so as to share technology. The American government intercepted the transmission and started NASA's moon project to meet them. (WC: Blue Moon) The Silence, which controlled humanity up to that point, were also interested in the Moon landing in order for the human race to produce the astronaut suit. (TV: Day of the Moon) In popular culture, the Moon landing had much to do with the Americans' rivalry with the Soviet Union and was known as the "Space Race." (WC: Blue Moon)

The mission

While Apollo 11's Saturn V rocket was on the pad, prior its 16 July 1969 launch, the Eleventh Doctor entered the command module, Columbia, and installed a radio relay. (TV: Day of the Moon )

Coordinated by Mission Control at the Kennedy Space Center, the Apollo 11, powered by a Saturn V rocket, lifted off on 16 July. En route to the Moon, the crew encountered unnamed aliens. Mission Control, as well as Torchwood, would know of this, but not the public. After getting caught by an overzealous secret services officer, Spencer, the Tenth Doctor ended up locked in the Center, though gained release in enough time to greet the aliens due to land on the Moon in a flying saucer prior to the Apollo. The Doctor convinced the aliens that humanity needed to develop on their own. The Doctor then witnessed the landing. (WC: Blue Moon) The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones witnessed the landing four times, telling Billy Shipton about it two or three months earlier. (TV: Blink)

The Eleventh Doctor interfered with the transmission of the landing, with the help of Canton Delaware and the relay that he had installed aboard Columbia. At the crucial moment that Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, they inserted footage of a Silent, ordering for its kind to be killed on sight. (TV: Day of the Moon)

Public reaction

A crowd gathered to watch the takeoff from the ground. (WC: Blue Moon) With interest in the landing so intense, public places virtually emptied as people all over the world glued themselves to their televisions. (PROSE: One Small Step...)

Due to the nature of the Silence, the footage the Doctor added was not remembered, but left as a subliminal message for present and future human generations. Following the landing, whenever an individual saw a Silent, they would attempt to kill it, unknowingly leading to the Silence's downfall. (TV: Day of the Moon)

Minor references and mentions

The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones had also personally witnessed the Moon landing four times together, as opposed to watching it on television. Exactly how this was accomplished without them crossing timelines is unknown. (TV: Blink)

Richard Lazarus estimated that his work with the Genetic Manipulation Device would prove as important to mankind as that achievement. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment)

Behind the scenes

• Prior to the real actual touchdown on the Moon, Moon Landing in TV Comic had already (obviously inaccurately) shown it happening for the first time exactly one year later to the day, in 1970.