Original NASA photography Apollo 11 S69-2759, Silver Print, Vintage, Black Tab Number, 20.3 x 25.4 cm, Private Collection
On July 16th, 1969, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the members of the Washington Diplomatic Corps were craning their necks to watch the launch of the Saturn 5 rocket. The Saturn 5 had a role to place in orbit the Apollo 11, which must have deposited the American astronauts on the Moon surface. The list of foreign guests included 69 ambassadors and 100 science ministers, at attaches and military aviation officials. Many foreign journalists and tourists also observed this historic launch. We estimated 600 million people around the world at the time watched it on television.