Apollo XI lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Here are Mike Collins’ pre-launch thoughts:

I am far from certain that we will be able to fly the mission as planned. I think we will escape with our skins, or at least I will escape with mine, but I wouldn’t give better than even odds on a successful landing and return. Fred Haise (the backup astronaut who had performed the pre-launch CM switch positions) has run through a checklist 417 steps long, and I have merely a half-dozen minor chores to take care of— nickel and dime stuff. In between switch throws, I have plenty of time to think, if not daydream. Here I am, a white male, age 38, height 5 feet 11 inches, weight 165 pounds, salary $17,000 per annum, resident of a Texas suburb, with black spot on my roses, state of mind unsettled, about to be shot off to the moon. Yes, to the moon.