America Salutes First Men On The Moon

Color photograph of three astronuats in spacesuits without helmets on moon background, red top edge border and blue bottom edge border with white lettering. Spacecraft name is shown in red, astronauts' names in blue below the photograph.

On July 19, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin boarded the Apollo XI lunar module while fellow astronaut Michael Collins remained on the spacecraft checking for any visual problems with the lunar module. He saw none and told the Eagle crew (Armstrong & Aldrin), "You cats take it easy on the lunar surface." At 10:28 p.m. EDT, Neil Armstrong turned on the video cameras that transmitted images from the moon to over a half billion people's television sets on Earth.

Apollo XI was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. The astronauts also returned to Earth the first samples from another planetary body. Apollo 11 achieved its primary mission - to perform a manned lunar landing and return the mission safely to Earth - and paved the way for the Apollo lunar landing missions to follow.