43 years ago today, my father sat me in front of a television set (I was almost two years old) to watch as NASA’s Apollo 11 lander touched down on the surface of the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong aboard. On the lander left on the lunar surface was this plaque, signed by President Nixon: “Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We Came in Peace For All Mankind.”

Watch coverage of the moon landing on 43 year delay on this site today, beginning at 4:10PM EDT (image credit: NASA).