Apollo 11 carried the first humans to the Moon in July 1969. NASA’s mission landed the lunar module Eagle in the Sea of Tranquility, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface.
Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module Columbia. Armstrong stepped onto the Moon first on July 21, 1969, Coordinated Universal Time, while the landing occurred on July 20 in the United States. The crew returned safely to Earth on July 24.
Apollo 11 fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a person on the Moon and returning them safely before the end of the 1960s. The mission was part of the broader Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Apollo 8 was the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, while Apollo 10 tested the landing approach without touching down. Apollo 12 made the second crewed lunar landing later in 1969.