Apollo 11

Black and white illustration of a spaceship and the legs and feet of a person in a space suite walking on the moon with a strip of red above and below it with white text.

This button commemorates the Apollo 11 Moon landing of July 20, 1969. Buttons like this one were sold and collected as souvenirs of the historic event. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin walked on the Moon's surface while Michael Collins orbited above in the command module. Broadcast on live TV Neil Armstrong was the first to step onto the lunar surface and spoke the now infamous words "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 ended the Space Race by beating the Soviet Union in the race to the Moon as well as meeting President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 challenge to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.

Read more about the History of NASA buttons on the Busy Beaver blog.