Fly Me to the Moon

On this day in 1969, three brave men aboard the Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins, landed at their destination: THE MOON.

After launching from Earth, a mere 240,000 miles away, Apollo 11 landed on the moon, bringing President Kennedy’s famous Congressional appeal of 1961 to life in which he said “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 Earth.” NASA set straight to work and after a few successful spacecraft missions and one tragic setback, Apollo 11 set out on its mission to the moon on July 16th, 1969.

76 hours later, Commander Armstrong was able to radio NASA Mission Control in Houston that “The Eagle has landed.” The men then set out for the first ever moonwalk. When the hatch opened hours later, with hundreds of millions of people back on Earth watching on their television sets, Armstrong made his way down the lunar module ladder and stepped out on the gray, powdery surface of the moon. He then said his most famous words of "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" which was broadcast live and is largely celebrated as being one of the most immense and historic feats to date.

Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon–July 1969 A.D–We came in peace for all mankind.”