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Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong didn't just "land on the moon." They navigated a flying tin can through a minefield of craters and boulders to find a specific patch of dust that almost killed them before they even touched down. If you've ever wondered where did Buzz Aldrin land on the moon exactly, you aren't looking for a vague "up there" answer. You're looking for coordinates, landmarks, and the reason why they ended up miles away from where NASA originally intended.
The short answer? They landed at 0.67408° N latitude, 23.47297° E longitude.
But those numbers are boring. What’s actually cool is the terrain. They were in the southwestern corner of the Mare Tranquillitatis, better known as the Sea of Tranquility. It wasn't a smooth parking lot. It was a chaotic mess of lunar regolith and "bad" rocks that forced Neil Armstrong to take manual control of the Lunar Module (LM), Eagle, while Buzz Aldrin barked out altitude and velocity data like a high-stakes auctioneer.
The struggle to find Statio Tranquillitatis
NASA planners spent years squinting at low-resolution photos from the Lunar Orbiter probes. They picked "Site 2" because it looked flat. It looked safe. Maps are funny things, though. When the Eagle cleared the side of a crater during its final descent, Armstrong looked out the window and saw a "boulder field" that would have snapped the lander’s legs like twigs.
He had to overfly the intended target.
This is why the question of where did Buzz Aldrin land on the moon exactly is so interesting. They landed about 4 miles downrange from their predicted spot. They eventually settled into a relatively clear area between some jagged craters. This specific site was later named Statio Tranquillitatis (Tranquility Base) by the crew themselves.
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The landing wasn't some soft, cinematic hover. It was a gritty, dust-blinded scramble. Aldrin was watching the computer and the instruments while Armstrong was looking out the window, trying not to flip the ship. When the contact light finally flickered on, they had maybe 25 seconds of fuel left. If they had drifted just a few dozen yards further, they might have tipped into a deep depression or slammed into a rock the size of a Volkswagen.
Looking at the map: Landmarks near the landing site
If you have a decent telescope or you’re looking at high-res images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), you can’t actually "see" the flag. It’s too small. But you can find the neighborhood.
Tranquility Base sits north of the lunar equator. To the south, you have the Highlands. To the west, the Sabine and Ritter craters. These two craters serve as the best cosmic signposts for finding the Apollo 11 site. If you draw a line between them and head slightly east, you’re in the right zip code.
The specific landing spot is also near a tiny trio of craters. In a moment of rare sentimentality, NASA eventually named these after the crew: Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. Ironically, the Aldrin crater isn't exactly where they landed; it's a bit to the north.
Honestly, the moon is a desolate place. It's easy to get lost in the grey. But the Sea of Tranquility stands out because it's a "mare"—a large, dark, basaltic plain formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. It’s flatter than the highlands, which is why Buzz and Neil were sent there in the first place. You don't want to try your first landing on the side of a mountain.
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Why the exact coordinates changed over time
For decades, the "exact" location was a bit of an estimate. Early tracking tech was good, but not 2026-good. We knew they were in the Sea of Tranquility, but pinpointing the Eagle’s descent stage to the meter took modern satellite imaging.
When the LRO started orbiting the moon in 2009, it changed everything. We finally got photos that showed the descent stage, the Lunar Ranging Retroreflector, and even the dark paths where the astronauts walked. You can literally see the "footprints" (disturbed soil) trailing away from the lander toward the Little West Crater, which Armstrong ran over to for a quick look.
What’s still left at the site?
- The Descent Stage: The bottom half of the Lunar Module. It acted as a launchpad when they left.
- The Flag: It probably fell over. Buzz reported seeing it blown down by the exhaust when they blasted off.
- A Plaque: It says they came in peace for all mankind.
- Seismic Equipment: Used to measure "moonquakes."
- Laser Ranging Retroreflector: This is still used today! Scientists bounce lasers off it to measure the distance between Earth and the Moon.
The "Near Miss" at West Crater
People often forget how close they came to crashing. As the Eagle descended, the onboard computer (the Apollo Guidance Computer) started screaming "1202" and "1201" alarms. These were executive overflows. Basically, the computer was being asked to do too much at once.
While Buzz was focused on those alarms, the ship was heading straight for West Crater, a pit about 190 meters wide surrounded by huge rocks. Armstrong saw it and thought, No way. He tilted the lander forward to gain horizontal speed, hopping over the crater and the boulder field. This is why when we ask where did Buzz Aldrin land on the moon exactly, the answer is "just past the scary rocks."
They finally touched down on a level plain of fine-grained dust. Armstrong noted that the dust kicked up by the engine made it hard to judge their speed in the final seconds. They weren't even sure they had stopped moving horizontally when they hit the ground.
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Navigating to the site today
If you were a future lunar tourist, you'd find the site surprisingly small. The entire area where Buzz and Neil spent their 21 hours and 36 minutes on the surface is about the size of a soccer field. They didn't wander far. Most of their work happened within 60 meters of the lander.
It’s a quiet spot. No wind. No weather. Just the searing sun and the deep cold of the lunar night. Everything they left behind—the gold-colored foil, the Hasselblad cameras (they took the film but left the bodies to save weight), and the astronaut poop bags—is still sitting there, exactly where they dropped them in 1969.
The site is currently protected under various "heritage" guidelines, though enforcing that on the moon is basically impossible right now. Space agencies have agreed to keep a distance to avoid sandblasting the historic artifacts with rocket exhaust from new missions.
How to find the spot yourself
If you want to see the general area where Buzz Aldrin landed, you don't need a billion-dollar rover.
- Wait for the moon to be in its waxing gibbous phase.
- Grab a pair of binoculars.
- Look for the large, dark circular plain on the right side (the eastern limb). That’s the Sea of Serenity.
- Just below it is the Sea of Tranquility.
- Look at the southwestern edge of that sea.
You won't see the Eagle, but you're looking at the exact horizon Buzz Aldrin saw when he stepped off the ladder and described the view as "magnificent desolation."
The specific landing coordinates—0.67° N, 23.47° E—represent the pinnacle of 1960s engineering. They didn't have GPS. They didn't have Google Maps. They had a sextant, a slide rule, and a lot of guts. Knowing exactly where they landed reminds us that space isn't just a big empty void; it’s a place with geography, hazards, and specific spots where history was made.
To explore the site further, check out the NASA LRO gallery which features 0.5-meter resolution images of Tranquility Base. These photos show the dark tracks of the astronauts' paths, which remain visible because there is no atmosphere to blow the dust away. Studying these images provides the best visual confirmation of the landing site's precise location and the spatial relationship between the lander and the lunar experiments.