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[Stream HISTORY](https://play.history.com/) [Try](https://www.historyvault.com/?cmpid=HV_O_Site_H_CTA_TryHISTORYVault) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement  JUL20 JUL20 Choose another date OK July | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | By: HISTORY.com Editors 1969 # Neil Armstrong walks on moon [HISTORY.com Editors](https://www.history.com/authors/history)  Bettmann Archive Published: November 24, 2009 Last Updated: May 28, 2025 At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut [Neil Armstrong](https://www.history.com/topics/neil-armstrong), 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar module *Eagle*, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon. The American effort to send astronauts to the moon has its origins in a famous appeal President [John F. Kennedy](https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-f-kennedy) made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: “I believe 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.” At the time, the United States was still trailing the [Soviet Union](https://www.history.com/topics/history-of-the-soviet-union) in space developments, and Cold War-era America welcomed Kennedy’s bold proposal. Advertisement Settings Quality Playback speed Quality Playback speed ## Did the US Go to the Moon to Beat the Soviets? Why did JFK promise to put a man on the moon? Was it just to beat the Soviets? Learn about the events that led to the creation of the Apollo Program. 4:51m watch In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted the first unmanned Apollo test flight, trying out the structural integrity of the proposed launch vehicle and spacecraft combination. Then, on January 27, 1967, tragedy struck at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, [Florida](https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/florida), when a fire broke out during a manned launch-pad test of the Apollo spacecraft and *Saturn* rocket. Three astronauts were killed in the fire. Despite the setback, NASA and its thousands of workers forged ahead, and in October 1968, *Apollo 7,* the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. In December of the same year, *Apollo 8* took three astronauts around the far side of the moon and orbited it 10 times before returning, and in March 1969 *Apollo 9* tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. Then in May, the three astronauts of *Apollo 10* took the first complete Apollo spacecraft in 31 orbits around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission. At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, with the world watching, *Apollo 11* took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and [Michael Collins](https://www.history.com/topics/astronaut-michael-collins) aboard. Armstrong, a 38-year-old research pilot, was the commander of the mission. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, *Apollo 11* entered a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module *Eagle,* manned by Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the command module, where Collins remained. Two hours later, the *Eagle* began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:18 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston, [Texas](https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/texas), a famous message: “The *Eagle* has landed.” Advertisement Settings Quality Playback speed Quality Playback speed ## Apollo 11: They Almost Forgot the American Flag Author Charles Fishman discusses how the Apollo 11 astronauts almost didn't bring a flag to the moon. 1:02m watch At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. As he made his way down the lunar module’s ladder, a television camera attached to the craft recorded his progress and beamed the signal back to Earth, where hundreds of millions watched in great anticipation. At 10:56 p.m., Armstrong spoke his famous quote, which he later contended was slightly garbled by his microphone and meant to be “that’s one small step for *a* man, one giant leap for mankind.” He then planted his left foot on the gray, powdery surface, took a cautious step forward, and humanity had walked on the moon. “Buzz” Aldrin joined him on the moon’s surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests, and spoke with President [Richard M. Nixon](https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/richard-m-nixon) via Houston. By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the *Eagle* began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon–July 1969 A.D–We came in peace for all mankind.” At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 *Apollo 11* began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:51 p.m. on July 24. There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by, *Apollo 13*. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the *Apollo 17* mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program was a costly and labor-intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians, and scientists, and costing \$24 billion (close to \$100 billion in today’s dollars). The expense was justified by Kennedy’s 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished ongoing missions lost their viability. Advertisement Timeline Also on This Day in History Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on July 20th [1881Sitting Bull surrenders Five years after Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer’s infamous defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Hunkpapa Teton Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army, which promises amnesty for him and his followers. Sitting Bull had been a major leader in the 1876 Sioux uprising that resulted in the death of Custer and 264 \[…\]](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/sitting-bull-surrenders) [1889Homesteaders murdered by Wyoming ranchers Having made the mistake of homesteading on land previously controlled by a Wyoming cattle king, homesteaders Ella Watson and James Averell are accused of rustling and hanged. As the days of the open range cattle industry faded, conflicts between powerful western cattle barons and the homesteaders who were settling on “their” lands were inevitable. The \[…\] 1:36m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/homesteaders-murdered-by-wyoming-ranchers) [1944Assassination plot against Hitler fails On July 20, 1944, Hitler cheats death as a bomb planted in a briefcase goes off, but fails to kill him. High-ranking German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and assassination was the only way to stop him. A coup \[…\] 2:18m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/assassination-plot-against-hitler-fails) [1948President Truman issues peacetime draft President Harry S. Truman institutes a military draft with a proclamation calling for nearly 10 million men to register for military service within the next two months. Truman’s action came during increasing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union. Following World War II, the United States moved quickly to demobilize the vast military it had \[…\]](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/truman-issues-peacetime-draft) [1963Jan and Dean’s “Surf City” hits \#1 On July 20, 1963, Jan and Dean’s song “Surf City,” reaches the top of the U.S. pop charts. Its immortal opening lyric “Two girls for every boy!” was a claim that wasn’t actually supported by the facts, but it helped create a popular image of California as a paradise of sun and sand and endless \[…\] 1:52m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/jan-and-deans-surf-city-hits-1) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [1969President Nixon watches first lunar landing On July 20, 1969, President Richard Nixon, along with millions of others, watches as two American astronauts walk on the moon. Later that evening, Nixon recorded succinctly in his diary “the President held an interplanetary conversation with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on the Moon.” America and the Soviet Union had been \[…\] 2:02m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/nixon-watches-first-lunar-landing) [1973Actor and martial-arts expert Bruce Lee dies at age 32 On July 20, 1973, the actor and martial-arts expert Bruce Lee dies in Hong Kong at age 32 from a brain edema possibly caused by a reaction to a prescription painkiller. During Lee’s all-too-brief career, he became a movie star in Asia and, posthumously, in America. Jun Fan (Bruce) Lee was born on November 27, \[…\] 2:16m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/bruce-lee-dies-at-age-32) [1976Viking 1 lands on Mars On the seventh anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, the Viking 1 lander, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, successfully lands on the surface of Mars. Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975, and arrived at Mars on June 19, 1976. The first month of its orbit was devoted to imaging the surface to \[…\] 0:58m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/viking-1-lands-on-mars) [1977A flood hits Johnstown—again A flash flood hits Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on July 20, 1977, killing 84 people and causing millions of dollars in damages. This flood came 88 years after the infamous Great Flood of 1889 that killed more than 2,000 people in the town. As they had in the first flood, the dams in the Conemaugh Valley failed, \[…\]](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/second-great-flood-hits-johnstown) [1984A serial-killing couple is apprehended Alton Coleman and Debra Brown are apprehended in Evanston, Illinois, after a particularly vicious two-month crime spree that left eight people dead and many more injured. Coleman had been added to the special eleventh slot on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List for actively dangerous fugitives. Coleman had a long criminal record before he met \[…\] 1:48m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/a-serial-killing-couple-is-apprehended) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [1988“Die Hard” debuts, makes Bruce Willis a movie star On July 20, 1988, Die Hard, an action film starring Bruce Willis as wisecracking New York City cop John McClane, opens in theaters across the United States. A huge box-office hit, the film established Willis as a movie star and spawned three sequels. Die Hard also became Hollywood shorthand for describing the plot of other \[…\] 1:54m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/die-hard-debuts-makes-bruce-willis-a-movie-star) [2012Aurora shooting leaves 12 dead, 70 wounded On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurs at a movie theater in Aurora, a Denver suburb, killing 12 people—the youngest a 6-year-old girl—and injuring at least 70 others. The Aurora shooting took place shortly after the start of a crowded midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, which opened across the United States that \[…\] 1:54m read](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-20/12-people-killed-70-wounded-in-colorado-movie-theater-shooting) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ## Related [ Space Exploration 10 videos](https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration/videos)  [Space Exploration](https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration) [Slingshot Around the Moon: How Apollo 13 Returned Home](https://www.history.com/articles/apollo-13-slingshot-moon) The three stranded astronauts caught a free ride back to Earth using the moon's gravity.  [Space Exploration](https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration) [Behind the Photo: Apollo 8's 'Earthrise' Over the Moon](https://www.history.com/articles/earthrise-photo-apollo-8-anders-1968) NASA astronaut Bill Anders snapped the awe-inspiring view.  [Space Exploration](https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration) [What Caused the Challenger Disaster?](https://www.history.com/articles/how-the-challenger-disaster-changed-nasa) On January 28, 1986, seven lives were lost when safety concerns were not communicated amid pressure to proceed with the launch. [See More](https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration) ## About the author [HISTORY.com Editors](https://www.history.com/authors/history) [HISTORY.com](http://history.com/) works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. 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In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted the first unmanned Apollo test flight, trying out the structural integrity of the proposed launch vehicle and spacecraft combination. Then, on January 27, 1967, tragedy struck at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, [Florida](https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/florida), when a fire broke out during a manned launch-pad test of the Apollo spacecraft and *Saturn* rocket. Three astronauts were killed in the fire. Despite the setback, NASA and its thousands of workers forged ahead, and in October 1968, *Apollo 7,* the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. In December of the same year, *Apollo 8* took three astronauts around the far side of the moon and orbited it 10 times before returning, and in March 1969 *Apollo 9* tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. Then in May, the three astronauts of *Apollo 10* took the first complete Apollo spacecraft in 31 orbits around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission.