“Apollo 11 space ship lifting off on historic flight to moon during which astronauts Edwin Aldrin & Neil Armstrong walked on lunar surface.” Photo by Ralph Morse, Cape Canaveral, FL, US, July 16, 1969.

Launch time was 9:32:00 a.m. EDT.

Same photo without the watermark from NASA Headquarters, photo ID: S69-39961).

“Cover of LIFE magazine dated 07-25-1969 w. logo & legend “Leaving for the Moon” w. pic of astronaut Neil Armstrong in spacesuit waving. Photo by Leonard McCombe

Life’s archive indicates the photo was taken on July 25, 1969 which is obviously wrong (it’s rather the publication date). The photo was taken on the morning of July 16, 1969.

Examine a similar photo from another angle via NASA headquarters : photo ID KSC-69PC-412.

”Morse stresses that the feat of the moon landing was accomplished not by supermen or a few geniuses, but by a huge team of smart, imaginative people working incredibly hard. “It’s tough to remember that the goal of going to the moon was set by JFK less than 10 years before. We had rocket technology, but really no technology to get up there, and land, and then get back. We had to dream it up, and then build it. NASA, in just a few years, made a spacecraft that could do that. When you think of it, of how talented and dedicated all of these apparently ordinary guys were … Looking back, it’s all just so incredible.”

NASA Headquarters: Buzz Aldrin eating supper in crew quarters on the night before launch. Photo filed 15 July 1969.