Apollo 11 was the first mission to carry a television camera to the lunar surface.
During the landing on 20 July 1969, the mission’s lunar module Eagle delivered Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon. A camera mounted outside the module transmitted live pictures of Armstrong’s first steps to viewers on Earth.
The broadcast was not a modern high-definition transmission. The camera produced a slow-scan black-and-white signal that was converted for television networks, but it allowed hundreds of millions of people to watch the historic event.
Apollo 11’s television camera was separate from the still cameras used to document the surface. Later Apollo missions carried more advanced equipment, including color television cameras and cameras mounted on lunar rovers.