That's one small step...

On July 20, 1969, two guys in a tiny tin bug did what dreamers have dreamed since they saw that gray orb in the sky. Landed and walked on the moon. The most challenging project in our brief human history cummulated when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their tiny Lunar Module in The Sea Of Tranquilty, some 250,000 miles from home, our little blue & green terra firma. In 1961, President Kennedy had challenged us to complete this adventure before the decade had expired. Thousands of people worked together and, overcoming accidents and errors, beat that deadline by four months. Later in the 70s, the moon journeys became almost routine (except for Apollo 13) and the public lost interest. Many politicians demanded that we stop wasting money on these flights and the Apollo project was terminated. In reality, the budget for NASA (since the space race) has always been around 1% of the federal budget, more than paying back that cost with innovations that we take for granted in our every day lives. Imagine how far into outer space we'd be by now if we stopped wasting money (and lives) on wars of (poor) choice. OK, I'll get off my soap box now. While we watched toungue-tied Walter describing the events on CBS, ABC had Duke Ellington perform a piece called "Moon Maiden ." In Central Park, 10,000 folks gathered at "The Moon Site," where a giant screen showed the action (along with Sc-Fi clips) whilst Silver Apples performed "Mune Toon." Read the Rolling Stone magazine article here. Meanwhile, across the pond, the BBC invited Pink Floyd to appear on a BBC1 TV Omnibus show called So What If It's Just Green Cheese? . The Floyd jammed on a ditty called Moonhead •. In Florida, Tom Rapp wrote Rocket Man the day they landed (also inspired by Ray Bradbury's Illustrated Man story). In England, David Bowie released the first version of Space Oddity just before the mission began. John Phillips (Mamas & Papas) was so inspired by the landing that he spent several years trying to mount a musical about an astronaut sent to the moon to defuse a bomb that could spell the end of earth! Yup, that took awhile to accomplish, what with three directors, a singer who couldn't, and numerous rewrites. The Andy Warhol produced off-Broadway effort lasted five days. Interesting story . In the days and months following that first moon landing, many commemerative records were released documenting the journey to the moon. There were also some "topical" singles released and they are listed here as well as a few isolated tracks from then-current albums. Not everybody was in love with going to the moon: Gil Scott-Heron and Clay Tyson. Buzz Aldrin made a music video in 2009 (produced by Snoop Dog!) called Rocket Experience . But don't tell Buzz he didn't land on the moon, or you'll get smacked ! Noted a*hole Bart (receiver of punch) keeps trying to DMCA this video. Keep it alive. All of the astronauts took specially prepared mix tapes of music to listen to during their voyages. Neil Armstrong listened to Music Out Of The Moon, a 1947 recording by Harry Revel & Les Baxter, with Dr Samuel Hoffman on the Theremin (also used by The Beach Boys). Pretty hip, I'd say! Apollo 15 took a couple of Moody Blues album on their journey to Luna in May '71)

	Apollo 11 - We Have Landed On The Moon
	Capitol ST-326
	8/12/69
	Back Cover   Alternate Cover

Untitled Sides One and Two

	Man On The Moon
	Columbia Special Products
	8/69
	Back Cover

Man On The Moon (Part 1 and Part 2)

Note: Also released as an 33 RPM single.
 

	We Came In Peace For All Mankind
	Decca DL-79172
	8/69
	Back Cover

We Came In Peace For All Mankind (Part 1)/We Came In Peace For All Mankind (Part 2)

	Man On The Moon: The Flight Of Apollo 11
	Evolution 3004
	8/69
	Back Cover   Inside Cover   Billboard Ad

Untitled Sides One and Two

Note: Came with 8-page booklet inside
 

	Apollo 11: Flight To The Moon
	Bell Records BELL-1100
	8/69 BB
	Back Cover   Billboard Quick Review

Side One
Alan Shepard - America's First Manned Flight	-	2:00
John Glenn - Orbits The Earth	-	0:48
Scott Carpenter - Reentry Into Earth's Atmosphere	-	1:40
Ed White - Walks In Space	-	2:42
Gemini 6 & 7 - Rendez-vous Above The Earth	-	1:22
Apollo 8 - First Orbiting Of The Moon	-	5:25
Apollo 10 - Approaching The Lunar Surface	-	4:06
Side Two
To The Moon	-	2:56
On The Lunar Surface	-	14:51
Return To Earth	-	1:16

Note: Narrated by the only astronaut to fly in all three programs: Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo
 

	Journey To The Moon: Recorded Live On Earth, In Space, On The Moon
	Buddah Records BDS-5045
	9/69
	Back Cover

Side One
Journey To The Moon	-	2:27
Lift Off: Mystery Of Space	-	3:00
The Computer	-	2:28
Lunar Landing: Moon Plaque	-	3:46
Space Rock	-	2:32
Side Two
A Walk On The Moon	-	2:54
Lunar Walk: Empty, Void	-	8:30
Nineteen Ninety-Nine	-	2:07
Lift Off & Return: Sea Off Tranquility	-	4:43

Note: Tag on cover reads:
Recorded live on earth, in space, on the moon.
Hear man's first words on the moon.
President Nixon's historic telephone call to the astronauts on the moon.
Actual conversations between NASA, Cape Kennedy and Astronauts Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin.
 

Genesis
Journey To The Moon Part I / Journey To The Moon Part II
Buddah BDA-132, 7/69
Not that Genesis, but the same studio musicians as on the LP (same as Side 1, Track 1; B-side no narration)

	Eagle Has Landed—Man's Journey To The Moon
	Intrepid IT-2-74001
	fall/69
	Back Cover   Inside Cover   Poster

Side 1
John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961		1:13
Mercury Flight 1, May 5, 1961		3:04
Mercury Flight 2, July 21, 1961		2:56
Mercury Flight 3, February 20, 1962		2:26
Mercury Flight 4, May 24, 1962		3:04
Mercury Flight 5, October 3, 1962		2:21
Mercury Flight 6, May 15-16, 1963		2:23
Gemini III, March 23, 1965		2:27
Gemini IV, June 3-7, 1965		4:13
Side 2
Gemini V, August 21-29, 1965		2:16
Gemini VII, December 4-18, 1965		3:20
Gemini VIII, March 16-17, 1966		2:36
Gemini IX-A, June 3-6, 1966		4:25
Gemini X, July 18-21, 1966		5:02
Gemini XI, September 12-15, 1966		3:42
Gemini XII, November 11-15, 1966		2:01
Side 3
Apollo 7, October 11-22, 1968		7:19
Apollo 8, December 21-27, 1968		10:40
Apollo 9, March 3-13, 1969		6:01
Side 4
Apollo 10, May 18-26, 1969		10:45
Apollo 11, July 16-24, 1969		13:06

Note: 2-lp set tracing history of NASA compiled by UPI. Includes poster of the LM on the moon.
 

This is just a few of the Apollo 11 docs, see my list on Discogs for more. And, here's a list that covers the whole space race .

First Man On The Moon July 1969 MGM PX-101 8/69

Untitled Sides One and Two

Voices From The Moon Eva-Tone Soundsheets EV-I-72269 fall/69

Side One

The Landing On The Moon By The Astronauts Of Apollo 11, July, 1969

Note: Single sided flexi disc distributed by Philco-Ford
 

Lunar Landing: Man On The Moon Nelson Doubleday, Inc T-10483 fall/69

Sides One and Two

Lunar Landing: Man On The Moon

swell posterFlight Poster

	To The Moon: The Story In Sound
	Time Life STL-163
	9/69
	Included Book   Billboard Ad Section

PROLOGUE Side 1

The first message from man on the moon... The moon in legend and in science... The Beginning of Rocketry... Tsiolkovsky... Goddard... Oberth... Goddard's first launch... The American Rocket Society... Dornberger's experiments in Germany... World War II and the V-2s.

Side 2

World War II ends... US seizes remaining V-2s and the German rocket team surrenders to the Americans ... H-bombs for the US and the USSR.... The war in Korea... US space program lags... Sputniks stun the world... The humiliation of Vanguard I and the success of Explorer I.

MERCURY Side 3

National Aeronautics and Space Administration is set up under the Eisenhower administration... Adapting the Redstone rocket and designing a capsule... Fidel Castro takes over Cuba... Selecting the first seven astronauts for Project Mercury... Testing and training men for space.

Side 4

US space probes... Russia photographs the moon with Lunik III... Kennedy President... Chimpanzee Ham rides a Mercury capsule... USSR's Gagarin first in orbit... Shepard chosen for first Mercury flight... "Chief Astronaut Jose Jimenez." The flight of Freedom 7. Lunar goal is set.

Side 5

Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 makes a successful flight - and sinks... Rene Carpenter speaks for the wives. Russia's Titov makes 17 orbits. NASA looks ahead to the moon. Chimp Enos orbits. Glenn scheduled for orbit. Friendship 7 "A-OK" with a heatshield dilemma. Glenn addresses Congress.

Side 6

Slayton is grounded... Ranger 4 to the dark side of the moon... Carpenter and Aurora 7... Two cosmonauts orbit simultaneously... Schirra's "textbook mission"... Cuban missile crisis... Cooper and Faith 7 end Mercury... Two more Russian cosmonauts, one a woman... JFK assassinated.

GEMINI Side 7

Russi, three-man capsule... Vietnam escalates... A Russian spacewalk... A Titan takes up Grissom and Young... Manned Spacecraft Center established... McDivitt and White: first US spacewalk. Cooper and Conrad: 8 days. Borman and Lovell: 14 days. Schirra and Stafford: the first rendezvous.

Side 8

Armstrong and Scott dock with an Agena but tumble end over end and must make an emergency landing... Stafford and Cenrnan find an "angry alligator"... Young and Collins dock with an Agena and use its engine... Conrad and Gordon do a linkup... Lovel and Aldrin prove men can work in space.

APOLLO Side 9

Grissom, White and Chaf-fee die in a ground test for the first manned Apollo... The tragedy investigated and changes made... An unmanned test of Saturn V... Russia orbits and docks two unmanned vehicles... An unmanned test of the LM... Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinated.

Side 10

Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham: the first manned flight with a Saturn IB... Live TV from outer space... Nixon wins presidency... Borman, Lovell and Anders lofted by a Saturn V, become the first to escape Earth's gravity and to orbit the moon... "Earthshine"... Genesis and the "good earth."

Side 11

McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart prepare first manned test in space for LM... In Earth orbit, they perform crucial docking and undocking of "Gumdrop" and "Spider"... Stafford, Cernan and Young test the LM near the moon... Live television in color from "Charley Brown" and "Snoopy."

Side 12

At Cape Kennedy during the long countdown... Liftoff for Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins... Translunar injection...... Separation of "Columbia" and "Eagle" in lunar orbit... "Eagle" lands... Armstrong steps down to the surface, and then Aldrin... JFK's goal has been met.

Note: Complete details at Discogs .
 

John Stewart Armstrong • / Anna On A Memory Capitol 2711, 8/69 BB Recorded on 7/25/69 rush released

Jon & Robin There's An American Flag On The Moon / same Abnak AB-140 [DJ], 8/69 promo only?

Dickie Goodman / Joey Pastrana Luna Trip / My Victrola Cotique 173, 9/69 BB

Captain Zap & The Motortown Cut-Ups The Luney Take-Off / The Luney Landing Motown 1151, 9/69 rare Motown cut-in comedy record

Clay Tyson Man On The Moon / You Don't Know What I Want King 6209, 9/69

Joe Simon Moon Walk (Part 1) / Moon Walk (Part 2) Sound Stage 7 SS7-2651, 12/69 BB

Lectric Woods Time Of The Season / A.L.L. (Apollo Lunar Landing) Apt 26005, 8/69

Oak Apple Day Plus The Deadly Pair Moon Shot / Let's Do It On The Moon RCA 101864, 8/69 group is from Australia

The Moon Boys / The Pioneers Apollo 11 / Love Love Everyday Amalgamated AMG 846, 8/69 even reggae groups paid tribute!

The Concinnators Apollo 11 / It's You B-W 109, 8/69

The Johnny Harris Orch Footprints On The Moon / Lulu's Theme Warner Bros 7319, 8/69

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir & The Philadelphia Brass Ensemble One Small Step • / This Is My Country Columbia 4-45013, 8/69 not related to Mushroom Tab. Choir

This is just a few of the Apollo 11 45s, see this 45Cat list for many more.

Note: Oak Apple Day is an Australian group (Aussie ground stations received the first transmissions from the moon)
John Stewart single version, Byrds: edited out the fake launch portion (mission completed)
 

Apollo 11 50th Anniversary booklet 8-page booklet produced for the CD.

Links!