Sunrise at Tranquility Base

The Moon over Chile on the night of August 19, 2007.

The prominent complex of three craters at the lower left is made up by Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina.

The landing site for the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle was dubbed Tranquility Base by Astronaut Neil Armstrong and lies near the center of this image (designated by the small white arrow) in the Southwestern corner of the Sea of Tranquility.

Historical Note:  When it comes time to set Eagle down in the Sea of Tranquility, Armstrong improvises, manually piloting the ship past an area littered with boulders. During the final seconds of descent, Eagle's computer is sounding alarms.

It turns out to be a simple case of the computer trying to do too many things at once, but as Aldrin will later point out, "unfortunately it came up when we did not want to be trying to solve these particular problems."

When the lunar module lands at 4:18 p.m EDT, only 30 seconds of fuel remain. Armstrong radios "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Mission control erupts in celebration as the tension breaks, and a controller tells the crew "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again." - NASA

Interestingly the technical support and trouble shooting on the mountain at CTIO for this telescope is done by an engineer named Gale Brehmer who was stationed at the Parkes Observing Station in Australia for the Apollo Missions.

For more information about Apollo landing sites, click here.