Overview

 For thousands of years, man had looked to the heavens and dreamed of walking on the moon. In 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong became the very first to accomplish that dream, followed only minutes later by Buzz Aldrin. Their accomplishment placed the United States ahead of the Soviets in the Space Race and gave people around the world the hope of future space exploration.

American Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon.

The astronaut stepped onto the Moon's surface, in the Sea of Tranquility, at 0256 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening the hatch on the Eagle landing craft.

Armstrong had earlier reported the lunar module's safe landing at 2017 GMT with the words: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

As he put his left foot down first Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Information received from:

www.history.com/topics/space-race

history1900s.about.com/od/1960s/firstmanmoon.htm

                                    news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/21/newsid_2635000/2635845.stm

May 1-2, 2014