Apollo 11 made the first crewed Moon landing on July 20, 1969, a U.S. achievement celebrated in America250 history.
NASA’s lunar module Eagle landed in the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin aboard. Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module Columbia. Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface several hours after landing, followed by Aldrin.
The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 16, 1969, atop a Saturn V rocket. The astronauts collected lunar samples, deployed scientific instruments, and returned safely to Earth on July 24 after an eight-day mission.
Apollo 11 fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 goal of landing a person on the Moon and returning them safely before the decade ended. Five further Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, but Apollo 11 remains the first.