The Apollo 11 mission's objective was to complete a goal set by President Kennedy to perform a crewed lunar landing and return safely. The Saturn V rocket spaceship launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 16, 1969, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, and Michael Collins 953,054 miles into orbit. The mission followed the Mercury missions, which were first launched in 1961 with Alan Shepard's 15-minute suborbital flight in his Freedom 7 capsule.

Apollo 11's module touched down on the lunar mare, the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong notified the control center with the historic words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." A video camera provided live coverage as Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, followed by Aldrin, descended a ladder on July 20 and uttered the words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The crew spent…