July 20 2019 will mark 50 years since man first walked on the moon.
The monumental moment was watched around the world by 650 million people who were glued to TV sets to see Neil Armstrong take the first step on the moon’s surface.
Listeners back on Earth heard the now famous words, ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ But Armstrong has since maintained that he actually said something slightly different: ‘That’s one small step for a man…’
Armstrong, who died on August 25, 2012, was closely followed by Buzz Aldrin who became the second person to land on the moon.
The Apollo 11 space flight was part of the furious Space Race, which began in 1955 and saw the USA and Soviet Union battle it out to see who could get the first person into space.
On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space.
With that goal roached, the USA set their sights on the moon landing.
‘We choose to go to the Moon!’ said President John F. Kennedy in 1962.
An incredible feat, around 400,000 people worked on the 17 Apollo missions, at a huge cost of $25bn.
In July 16 1969, Apollo 11 lifted off from Florida and made a 72-hour journey to the surface of the moon.
Then, 110 hours after leaving the earth, Neil Armstrong made those famous strides onto the moon, followed 20 minutes later by Buzz Aldrin.
Then men then spent two hours collecting samples of the surface and setting up experiments.
After, the return journey began and they splashed down to earth and into the Pacific on July 24 – eight days, three hours and 18 minutes after liftoff, their names firmly sealed in the history books.
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