The first man to fly in a spacecraft and orbit the Earth was Yuri Gagarin. He was a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union (the name of the former union of Russia and its neighbouring states). In 1961, US president John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would land a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. The mission was carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A new spacecraft specially designed for the mission, called Apollo, was built. After a series of test flights, Apollo 11 successfully landed two astronauts on the Moon in July 1969.

Apollo programme

A series of Apollo missions took place in the 1960s. Different Apollo spacecraft, numbered 1 to 10, carried out orbits of the Earth and the Moon. The first manned flight of Apollo (Apollo 7) took place in 1968. Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon. Astronauts were carefully trained for the Moon landing.

Saturn V

The enormous Saturn V rocket was built to launch the Apollo spacecraft. It consisted of three rocket stages. The engines of each stage fired until their fuel ran out. That stage was then jettisoned (cast off) and the engines of the next stage fired. The rocket became lighter each time a stage was lost, allowing it to accelerate more easily.

On top of the 111-metre (364-foot) rocket, as high as a 30-storey skyscraper, were the Lunar Module, Service Module and Command Module, the three parts of the Apollo spacecraft.

Journey to the Moon

Saturn V, carrying Apollo 11, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 16th July 1969. On board were three US astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins. As the rocket soared into the atmosphere and fuel was used up, its first and second stages were jettisoned, leaving the third stage to power Apollo into Earth orbit. Finally the third stage fell away and Apollo headed for the Moon.

Lunar landing

Apollo entered into orbit around the Moon. One astronaut, Collins, stayed in one part of the spacecraft, called Columbia, while Armstrong and Aldrin moved into the Lunar Module, called Eagle. This then separated from Columbia and descended to the Moon. Columbia continued in orbit around the Moon while Eagle landed on the Moon's surface.

Apollo 11’s Lunar Module, Eagle, touched down on the surface of the Moon at 8.17 pm on 20th July 1969. A few hours later, Armstrong became the first person to stand on the lunar surface. As he stepped off Eagle's footpad, he spoke these words: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He was soon followed by Aldrin. The two astronauts spent 150 minutes gathering rock and soil samples. They also set up scientific instruments.

The Apollo astronauts left behind a plaque, fixed to Eagle's ladder. On it are two drawings of Earth and an inscription which reads: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

Return home

Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the Lunar Module. A few hours later, the upper part of Eagle, the ascent stage, lifted off from the Moon's surface. It then docked with Columbia, which was still in orbit around the Moon. Armstrong and Aldrin crawled through to rejoin Collins. The Lunar Module was then jettisoned, and Columbia set off for Earth.