Today in History-July 21
Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon 20 minutes after Neil Armstrong1969: America lands man on the Moon
England have
American Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon.
The astronaut stepped onto the Moon's surface, in the Sea of Tranquility,
at 0256 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening the hatch on the Eagle
landing craft.
His colleague Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin watched from inside the lunar module and
spoke the first words of man on the Moon: "Tranquillity base. The Eagle has
landed."
As he put his left foot down first Mr Armstrong declared: "That's one small
step for man but one giant leap for mankind."
He described the surface as being like powdered charcoal and the landing
craft left a crater about a foot deep.
'We came in peace'
The historic moments were captured on television cameras installed on the
Eagle and turned on by Armstrong.
Armstrong spent his first few minutes on the moon taking photographs and
soil samples in case the mission had to be aborted suddenly.
He was joined by Aldrin at 0315 GMT and the two collected data and
performed various exercises - including jumping across the landscape - before
planting the Stars and Stripes flag at 0341 GMT.
They also unveiled a plaque bearing President Nixon's signature and an
inscription reading: "Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the
Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind."
After filming their experience with a portable television camera the
astronauts received a message from the US President.
President Nixon, in the White House, spoke of the pride of the American
people and said: "This certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever
made."
Many other nations - including the UK - sent messages of
congratulation.
Moscow Radio announced the news solemnly in its 1030 GMT broadcast.
As Aldrin and Armstrong collected samples, Michael Collins told mission
control in Houston he had successfully orbited the Moon in the mother ship
Columbia, and take-off was on schedule for 1750 GMT this evening.
Tony Blair is the youngest Labour leader since World War II
1994: Labour chooses Blair
Artificially 1969:
The The MP for Sedgefield, Tony Blair, has been confirmed as the new leader
of the Labour Party.
The results of the Labour Party ballot - announced just after 1200 BST at
the University of London - showed Mr Blair had gained 57% of the vote in the
most democratic process ever used by a British political party.
The election followed the unexpected death of former Labour leader John
Smith in May.
Mr Blair made clear his intentions in a passionate first speech as leader:
"I shall not rest until, once again, the destinies of our people and our party
are joined together again in victory at the next general election - Labour in
its rightful place in government again."
I shall not rest until the destinies of our people and our party are joined
together in victory.
New Labour leader Tony Blair
After a cleanly fought campaign he beat off competition from John Prescott,
MP for Hull East - with 24.1% of the votes - and Margaret Beckett - MP for Derby
South - with an 18.9% share.
Mr Prescott will become deputy leader after taking 56.5% of the deputy
leadership ballot, compared to the 43.5% achieved by Mrs Beckett.
At 41 Mr Blair is the youngest of the eight British Labour Party leaders
since World War II.
It was the first time the party's leadership has been decided by a secret
ballot of all four million Labour Party members and unionlevypayers - without
block voting by the unions.
Although only one million voted for Mr Blair and his modernising agenda, he
won the race in all three electoral colleges - members, MPs and trade
unions.
Tony Blair trained as a lawyer and entered Parliament in June 1983 at the
age of 30. John Smith appointed him Shadow Home Secretary after Labour lost the
1992 general election.
Vocabulary:
levy :to impose or collect (a tax, for example)(征收;征税)
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