At 76:15:59, Apollo 11 came around the other side of the moon and regained contact with earth. Communications were "ratty" at first, but eventually the crew reported a near perfect LOI burn, resulting in a lunar orbit of 60.9 x 169.9 nautical miles (perfect would have been 60 x 170).
In the words of Commander Armstrong: "It was like - like perfect!"
About 13 minutes later, those of us on Earth heard these magical words from Apollo 11:
76:34:34 (Armstrong): Apollo 11 is getting its first view of the landing approach. This time we are going over the Taruntius crater, and the pictures and maps brought back by Apollo 8 and 10 have given us a very good preview of what to look at here. It looks very much like the pictures, but like the difference between watching a real football game and watching it on TV. There's no substitute for actually being here.
(CAPCOM): Roger. We concur, and we surely wish we could see it firsthand, also.
Landing approach! We'll find out tomorrow...
"[I]f we fail, then the whole world,…all that we have known and cared for…will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that…men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'”
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