US President Donald Trump received on Friday at the White House the two astronauts of the still alive Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the first human moon landing. "Tomorrow is a very big day," said Donald Trump.
Neil Armstrong's sons also present
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk the lunar ground and commander of the Apollo 11 mission, died in 2012. His sons Eric and Mark, along with their families, were present in the Oval Office. President Trump asked them to signal themselves by raising their hands. Buzz Aldrin, now 89, had stepped on the moon shortly after Armstrong. As for 88-year-old Michael Collins, he remained in lunar orbit aboard the "control module", the ship that then allowed the team to return to Earth.
"We talked about America's future in space"
The mission took off on July 16, 1969 and Armstrong and Aldrin had landed on July 20 using the lunar module. This anniversary will be celebrated in particular Saturday in Houston, where was located the control room of NASA, at the Johnson Space Center. "Great meeting with President Donald Trump, we talked about America's future in space, how to address space challenges, and the need to continue to explore beyond horizon ", tweeted the account of Buzz Aldrin (who said Wednesday that employees were tweeting for him). "Let's keep the greatness of America in space!" concluded "Buzz".