CAPE CANAVERAL — At this point 50 years ago, the Apollo 11 crew was well on its way to the moon.

Eight years after President John F. Kennedy made his historic 1961 speech, the Apollo 11 astronauts were traveling to the moon.

Four teams manned the consoles in mission control 24 hours a day.

Astronaut Charlie Duke was CAPCOM for Apollo 11, relaying messages to the crew.

"We were going to do all we could to get there, and get back safely," Duke told Spectrum News. "Things were going really well into the mission up to that point."

Until the afternoon of July 20, as the Lunar Module "Eagle,” which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin onboard, began it's descent to the surface.

Fuel was running critically low, and the call was made to proceed with the landing. The lunar module landed with just seconds of fuel remaining.

It prompted Duke's famous words:

"Roger, Twank...Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot!"

Then, more famous words came from Armstrong as he made the historic climb.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” he said.

He and Aldrin spent two and a half hours on the moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Then they headed back up to rendezvous with Michael Collins in the Columbia Command Module.

Four days later, the crew prepared to return to Earth.

"To those people tonight, we give a special thank you, and to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight, God bless you," Armstrong said as the crew orbited Earth. "Good night from Apollo 11."

The astronauts splashed down in the Pacific July 24.

It followed three weeks of quarantine and world-tour that last more than a month.