Speaking on the 40th anniversary of the momentous space mission, the founder of Jodrell Bank observatory described the tense moments as his team tracked Apollo 11's progress into space.
Hundreds of space enthusiasts gathered at the Cheshire observatory, a focal point for world celebrations of the landmark moment when Neil Armstong set foot on the moon 40 years ago today.
Sir Bernard, 95, said the men had risked dying on the moon.
He also told the audience how his team were also following the Russian Luna 15, an unmanned moon probe hastily launched at the same time as the US mission, which could have re-written history had the Apollo mission failed.
The audience was also treated to a special greeting from pioneer Buzz Aldrin, who revealed his moon mission would have failed without the early space research of Jodrell Bank.
He said: "Human pioneers are always thankful for the predecessors of information that make what they're doing easier.
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"I send my greetings to those of you, radio astronomers at Jodrell Bank, who paved the way for not just other electronic signals and robots, but us humans to venture outward and explore a close-in portion of the universe."
His recorded message thrilled the audience as it was bounced to the moon and back again at the speed of light - using the power of the 250ft Lovell telescope.
A special message of hope was also recorded for the event by physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. The Apollo mission was headline news from blast-off on July 16 at the Kennedy Space Centre, until its three crew members were safely back on earth.
There were six successful missions to the moon. However, with the end of the Cold War, the conquest of space lost something of its velocity. Four decades on from the moon landing, US president Barack Obama is now deciding whether US space agency Nasa should renew its lunar programme.
In July 1969 the Manchester Evening News carried a 'Moon Special' souvenir to give readers full coverage of the incredible events that took place 240,000 miles out in space.
It later emerged that rocks brought back by the Apollo team were sent to experts at Manchester University to test.
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Quite right. The Moon landings were one of humanity's greatest achievements ever. Although I wasn't alive at the time, I still feel proud that people have walked on the Moon, and I'm impressed that of all the people who walked on the Moon, all returned to Earth safely. Given the number of things that could've gone wrong, each one of which would have ruined the mission and resulted in the deaths of the crews, it's astonishing.
It is unfortunate that Grissom, White and Chaffee died on the launch pad, but their deaths were not in vain, because they caused major safety improvements to be implemented.
It's despicable that il-educated or just plain stupid people have the audacity to claim that it was all a hoax; it denigrates both the loss of the above-mentioned 3 astronauts, the courage of the subsequent astronauts, and the technical excellence of the missions, to speak so, as well as being insulting and disrespectful.
Today is truly the anniversary of a momentous achievement.
Sir Bernard you believe in moon landings and I'll believe in faries.
Who stayed on the moon and panned the camera shot when the module fired from the surface of the moon? i always wondered how did they do that follow the module up into the sky.When the biggest computer at the time had only a small memory.So autotracking would not be a option.
Oh dear, the conspiracy theory about the moon landings!
Conspiracy theorists don’t 'smell something odd' about just one event that raises questions, they find a conspiracy in everything! They spend their sad lives glued to the internet spouting nonsense.
If they were scientists or indeed engineers involved in the Space industry then they would have a valid argument. But they are not. They are pasty faced geeks who's evidence is pure conjecture shared with other gullible individuals who expertise amounts to nothing in most subjects!
However, conspiracy theorists prove something that is unequivocally without doubt, 'there is one born every minute'!
All im saying is if you look at the landing craft taking off from the moon the camera follows the craft upwards? And we didnt have auto cameras in those days even the astronauts had fixed cameras on the front of their suits?
After all these years bernard lovell actually said on the radio today that russia was nerly there in the background but their attempt crashed and it was kept quiet? so if the powers that be could keep that quiet for forty odd years why not Keep it qquiet that they didnt quite make it to the moon (Capricorn one) comes to mind where they filmed in the desert.(Area 51)???
I might have believed they landed there if it wasn't for the take-off from the surface of the moon. Where's the rocket exhaust? - in an airless atmosphere the exhaust should still be there, and the accelleration was too fast to be true. Debris was coming out sideways and like the other sceptics I doubt if the camera was able to be moved remotely from earth bearing in mind the time delay in transmissions.
WO2 - I ain't a geek but a highly qualified engineer and I watched it live
If the Americans did not land on the moon the Russians would have been the first to tell the world!
Ewan in order for there to be a flame or exhaust there has to be air or oxygen.The moon has neither.Come on man,it's not rocket science.(Whoops.sorry,it is)