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Scientists in Arkansas look back on Apollo 11 with special documentary showing

"I sat there and watched in black and white as Neil Armstrong stepped upon off that ladder to be the first human being to step foot on another world."

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Scientists in Arkansas are remembering the historic day fifty years ago when Apollo 11 successfully launched into space.

Tuesday the Arkansas Times held a special showing of the documentary “For All Mankind" at the Riverdale Movie Theater in Little Rock. Dozens of people including scientists were in attendance to celebrate the anniversary. It was a moment in American history that became unforgettable.

"I sat there and watched in black and white as Neil Armstrong stepped upon off that ladder to be the first human being to step foot on another world,” Darrell Heath said.

Apollo 11 was a mission that encouraged Darrell Heath to become a scientist. He said it has become one of the biggest moment sin American history.

“In terms of Geopolitics, it meant that we won the space war against the Soviet Union,” he said.

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After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as two powers. Heath said there were a lot of undecided nations that could choose to align with either the Soviet Union or the U.S. 

One way to do that was to impress other nations with technological capability. 

Politicians got together and decided the U.S. needed to get into the space race and the final objective was to be able to land humans on the moon and bring them home successfully again.

"The Apollo missions landed on the moon six times after Apollo 11,” Dr. Tony Hall said.

Dr. Tony Hall is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at UALR. He said the success of Apollo 11 changed science forever.

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“It started computers, just one of the little things we have in our lives today,” Halls said.

But five decades after that historic moment, there's still a lot of unknown.

"We have not gone back to the moon. The moon is still an object that holds a lot of mystery and fascination for it. There's a lot of answers to questions such as the history of our solar system and planet earth that we can answer,” Heath said.


It took Apollo 11 about three days to make it to the moon, making Saturday, July 20, the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong stepping foot on it for the first time.

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