Who was the first human to step onto the Moon?

Neil Armstrong was the first human to step onto the Moon.

Armstrong descended from the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle and set foot on the lunar surface on 21 July 1969 Universal Time, or 20 July in the United States. He was followed about 19 minutes later by Buzz Aldrin. Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module Columbia.

Armstrong’s first words on the surface referred to the event as “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center on 16 July 1969 and returned to Earth on 24 July.

The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 goal of landing a crew on the Moon and returning it safely before the decade ended. Armstrong had previously been a naval aviator and test pilot. Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space, but he never traveled to the Moon.