First Men on the Moon | Universe Today

Written by Abby Cessna

Neil Armstrong on the Moon in 1969. Credit: NASA

On July 20, 1969, the first men set foot on the Moon. Before that, the Moon had only been visited by Apollo 8, but that crew never landed. The crew of the Apollo 10, which flew just a couple months before the first lunar landing also only reached the Moon without landing. This event was the culmination of the Moon race between the Soviets and the United States that had been ongoing since a speech made by President Kennedy in 1961.

The Apollo 11 was the first spacecraft with staff landing on the Moon. The first man to land on the Moon was Neil Armstrong, the commander of the mission. He was joined by Buzz Aldrin, the second person on the Moon, who piloted the lunar module, which was known as the Eagle. When he took his first step, Neil Armstrong uttered those famous words, “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong and Aldrin spent two and a half hours on the Moon walking around. In addition to Aldrin and Armstrong, the astronaut Michael Collins was also on the mission; however, he stayed in the spacecraft and never went to the surface with the others. On the Moon, they placed an American flag as well as mementos for fellow astronauts who had died. All together, Aldrin and Armstrong spent 21 hours on the Moon, although a large portion of it was sleeping in the lunar module.

In order to prepare for a Moon landing, the Apollo astronauts underwent special training. In 1963, for example, Armstrong and other astronauts trained at a volcano in Arizona. They also practiced driving land rovers in rough terrain that scientists thought was similar to the Moon’s terrain.

Neil Armstrong was one of the astronauts in the Apollo program. Before he became an astronaut, he had been a pilot in the Korean War and then later a test pilot for a variety of aircraft. When he walked on the Moon, he was 38 years old. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his achievement. Buzz Aldrin, whose real name is Edwin Aldrin Jr. until he legally changed it, was also a fighter pilot in the Korean War. He later became an astronaut in the Apollo program. After Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the spacecraft, they made it safely back to Earth, landing in the Pacific Ocean on 24, July, 1969.

Universe today offers articles on how many men have walked on the Moon  and first man on the Moon.

You should also check out the Moon landing and 35th anniversary of the Moon landing.

Astronomy Cast has a three part series on the Moon.

Filed under: Astronomy