The U.S. Space & Rocket Center commemorated the launch of Apollo 11’s historic journey to the moon 50 years ago by firing a salvo of 5,000 into the sky Tuesday morning.

A crowd gathered for the event in Huntsville, while others around the world were doing the same. Apollo 11’s lift-off was at 8:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969, with the astronauts reaching the moon on July 20.

Huntsville’s Marshall Flight Center was the key in reaching the moon because of the work of scientists there in developing the Saturn V rocket needed for the long distance.

Hundreds of millions tuned in to radios or watched the grainy black-and-white images on TV as Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon in one of humanity’s most glorious technological achievements. Police around the world reported crime came to a near halt that midsummer Sunday night.

Astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone in the mother ship while Armstrong proclaimed for the ages, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” was struck by the banding together of Earth’s inhabitants.