 As Apollo 11 rumbled into space for its historic trip to the moon in the summer of 1969, three astronauts were on board. Purdue graduate Neil Armstrong, who passed away in 2012, was at the controls as the lunar lander approached the pocked surface of the moon. The final descent, that is the power descent to the surface of the moon was indeed the most difficult part of the flight for Apollo 11. And I suspect for the subsequent flights as well, the systems were very heavily loaded. This part of the flight had never been done before. These parts of the systems had never been used before and it was a very demanding task. So it was enormously satisfying to get through that first one and be able to successfully make that landing. We had hoped that when we got to the vicinity of the landing site have a couple of minutes fuel left to complete the landing. In our case it was on a steep side of a large crater with very large boulders the size of automobiles. This wasn't a place that I wanted to try and make a landing. We had to extend our trajectory on to the west maybe a quarter of a mile further. We had to find a smooth and relatively rock free area. We used up good fuel in the process. City feet, two and a half down. Right channel, we're drifting to the right level. Ready, now and a half. 30 seconds forward, just picking up some dust. That's a channel out there. On track light, Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. Right here, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. I always thought the most important time was the landing. That was the critical achievement of the Apollo Program pilots. They like to make smooth landings but they don't think much about getting down off the airplane. We see some several hundred feet in front of us that are probably two feet in size and have angular inches. I didn't really think about what I might say until after I landed. Having accomplished the landing, I realized I was going to have to say something. So I thought about it a bit. That's one. Although pilots relate to landing, most people relate to walking. So that's why it's become well known. There seems to be no difficulty in moving around. It's even perhaps easier than the simulation of 16G that we performed and various simulations on the ground. It has a sharp beauty all its own. I like much of the high desert of the United States. It's different but it's very pretty out here. For liftoff, the ascent engine would push the eagle into orbit. For this one maneuver, this engine would have to work. I'd like to go back. I had to leave some things behind the first time because of our weight limits. I'd like to go back and pick up those souvenirs. Roger. We've got to be coming home. Over the longer term, it's meant that humanity has proven that it's not necessarily a chain to this planet for all eternity. That new goals and new places to go are available. The Arrow School will use this device to study arc heated propulsion. The time that I spent at Purdue Learning and Engineering was absolutely critical to everything I've done throughout my entire career. When I was a student, there was no space program. There was not even a vision of the space program at that time. And certainly I never would have suspected that I would be involved in the projects that I ultimately became involved in. It came in faith for all mankind. The successes and the opportunities that I had were largely a product of what I learned from my professors at Purdue. They all taught you something. You just had to find a way to get that information from them successfully. One of the most important techniques in organic chemistry. I remember going to the aerodynamics class. In the first day of class, he gave us assignment, which happened to be Bernoulli's law. And the assignment was to criticize. And it was right then that I realized they weren't teaching us facts and information. They were teaching me how to think. And that turned out to be extremely important. I'm sure other universities have strong spirit and strong affinities for their institution. But I doubt that any surpass and few match the Purdue spirit. It's been an important part of my life all those many years since I was on the campus and it remains strong today. I'm always waiting for...