KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – Fifty years ago this July 16, Saturn V launched Apollo 11 to the moon.
More than one million people gathered on the Space Coast to watch Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins lift off for the moon from Kennedy Space Center.
Many watched the launch on television screens across the country. Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing News 6 created a hotline for viewers to record their Apollo 11 memories. Take a listen to those here.
Photos show protesters of the Poor People's Campaign, the protest delayed traffic in the area after the launch.
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin took off on the Saturn V rocket at 9:32 a.m. July 16, Aldrin and Armstrong did not step on the moon until July 20.
Above is an aerial view of Cape Canaveral.
Cape Canaveral did not actually become incorporated until 1962, according to spaceline.org.
The Kennedy Space Center was originally the NASA Launch Operations Center.
The historic moon landing happened eight years after President John F. Kennedy declared his vision of putting a man on the moon.
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth,” Kennedy said on May 25, 1961.
Photo above shows Banana River, which is about 3.5 miles east of the Kennedy Space Center.
Above is a photo of the Indian River, which is about 4 miles west of the Kennedy Space Center.
A ship can be seen in the photo above at Port Canaveral. Port Canaveral is about 20 miles south of the Kennedy Space Center.
Above is a photo of the technical lab at Patrick Air Force Base.
Photos featured in the story are courtesy of the Associated Press and the Florida Memory Project