Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 achievement honored by America250.
Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, by Coordinated Universal Time, after Apollo 11’s Lunar Module Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility. Buzz Aldrin followed him about nineteen minutes later, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module Columbia.
Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 16, 1969. The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing astronauts on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth before the end of the 1960s. The crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.
Armstrong is sometimes confused with Aldrin because both walked on the Moon during the mission. Armstrong, however, was the mission commander and first to step onto the surface. Armstrong and Aldrin spent about two and a half hours outside the lunar module, collecting samples and deploying scientific equipment.