"That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Neil Armstrong summarised famously for the hundreds of millions of TV viewers back on earth as he became the first man to have stepped on the moon. On July 21, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped down from the Apollo 11 landing craft, the eagle and onto the surface of the moon, realising President John Kennedy’s 1961 pledge to put a man on the moon by the end of the 70s.

19 minutes later, Colonel Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface of the moon. Walking carefully at first, the two lunar pioneers erected a U.S. flag. Soon growing comfortable to the moon’s gravitational field, six-times-lighter than earth’s, the Aldrin and Armstrong soon began leaping lightly across the moons’ cratered surface, delighting and amazing the earth-bound TV audience. Images of their playful bounds have since become one of the most enduring of the century, symbolising the spirit of exploration and amazing scientific applications.

The astronauts spent two hors taking pictures and collecting rock samples before returning to the lunar module and fastening the hatch. The moon walk was over. The two men spent a total of 21.5 hours on the moon before returning to the orbiting Apollo 11 command ship, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Collins. Having made their historical visit to the moon, fulfilling one of humanity’s age-old dreams, the three astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific off Hawaii on July 24. This was the American space program’s greatest triumph.