publication date: Saturday, July 20, 2019 (part of Summer 2019)

category: Science

clue: One small step for this man was also one giant leap for mankind.

intended difficulty: very easy

solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, LaVonne Lemler, Samir Mehta, Chris Lemler, Richard Slominsky, Matthew Preston, and Erik Bates

Apollo 11 Week: Few events have captured the imagination of the world like the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the historic event, here are seven people whose work made it possible.

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Buzz Aldrin

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Michael Collins

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Helge von Koch

In our fractured era, politicians funded by the Koch brothers might call liberals snowflakes, but this mathematician gave us a classic fractal for any era. Go »

Orville & Wilbur Wright

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John F. Kennedy

The American space program kicked into high gear thanks to this president's belief that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." Go »

Gene Kranz

Failure wasn't an option for this mission control director on any of his Apollo missions, including 11 and 13. Go »