On this day July 20, 1969
Neil Armstrong steped on to a Movie Soundstage, and declared "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
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1969: The Soviet Union was first to land a spacecraft on the moon, in 1959, but NASA's Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to set foot on the lunar surface, realizing humanity's age-old dream. And effectively winning the space race for the United States.
Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin left the Apollo 11 command module (piloted by Michael Collins) in orbit and performed a landing in the lunar module Eagle. At 4:18 p.m. EDT, Armstrong announced to a watching and waiting world that "The Eagle has landed." Six-and-a-half hours later, he stepped onto the powdery surface with the words, "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Aldrin soon followed Armstrong down the ladder to become the second man to stand on the moon.
The mission was by no means a slam dunk. There was real fear that once on the lunar surface the astronauts might end up marooned and beyond rescue. In fact, President Nixon had a condolence speech ready to go in the event things turned out badly. Things went as planned, however, and Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the command module after leaving behind a plaque inscribed with the words: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind."
Five more Apollo missions carried astronauts to the moon before the program ended in 1972. (There was to have been six, but Apollo 13's mission ended in near disaster.) The last man to leave his footprint on the moon was Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan, on Dec. 14, 1972.
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