Apollo 11 was the spaceflight which landed the first humans,
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr, on Earth's Moon on
July20, 1969, at 20:17:39 UTC. The United States mission is
considered the major accomplishmentin the history of space
exploration.
Launched from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39
inMerritt Island, Florida on July 16, Apollo 11 was the fifth
mannedmission, and the third lunar mission, of NASA's Apollo
program. The crew consisted of Armstrong as Commander and Aldrin as
Lunar Module Pilot, with Command Module Pilot Michael Collins.
Armstrong and Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquillity and
became the first humans to walk on the Moon on July 21. Their Lunar
Module, Eagle, spent 21 hours 31 minutes on the lunar surface,
while Collins remained in orbit in the Command/Service Module,
Columbia. The three astronauts returned to Earth on July 24,
landing in the Pacific Ocean. They brought back 47.5 pounds (21.5
kg) of lunar rocks.
Apollo 11 fulfilled U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of
reaching the Moon before the Soviet Union by the end of the 1960s,
which he had expressed during a 1961 mission statement before the
United States Congress: "I believe that this nation should commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing
a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
Five additional Apollo missions landed on the Moon between
1969
and 1972.