Description

Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

Part of our collection “NASA’s Apollo XI Mission”

Apollo XI was the Apollo program mission that landed the first humans on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step onto the lunar surface. Together they collected 47.5 pounds of lunar material for return to Earth. Michael Collins piloted the command spacecraft alone in lunar orbit until Armstrong and Aldrin returned to it just under a day later for the trip back to Earth. Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by the late US President John F. Kennedy in a speech before the United States Congress, “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” All images are credited to NASA’s Johnson Space Center.