May 25: President John F. Kennedy announced to a special session of Congress in 1961, that the USA is going to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade, and through the NASA Apollo program, and pledging to make the US not "first but, first and, first if, but first period."

President Kennedy delivers his proposal to put a man on the Moon before a joint session of Congress, May 25, 1961

The Programme or Project Apollo program was the third human spaceflight conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civil space agency for the United States. The program was responsible for the landing of the first humans on the moon in 1969.

John Houbolt (aerospace engineering) explaining the Lunar Orbit Rendevouz concept

During the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower began the space race against Union (USSR) Soviet Socialist Republics who launched the first spacecraft "Sputnik" to orbit Earth.

Apollo 11 crew, from left to right: Nail Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

The goal of President Kennedy was able to complete the mission of Apollo 11 when astronauts Nail Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in the Lunar Module on the Moon on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins remained in orbit Moon in command of the spacecraft. The three astronauts landed safely on Earth four days later, on July 24, 1969.

Aldrin salutes the US flag

Five Apollo missions followed the program to complete six lunar landings in which 12 American astronauts landed on the moon in the terrestrial TV and walked collecting lunar material for scientific analysis until 1972.

After describing the lunar surface as "very fine grains ... almost like dust," Neil Armstrong descended from the Lunar Module "Eagle" and expressed his famous phrase: "That's one small step for a man but one giant leap for mankind."

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind", Neil Amstrong

Six and a half hours after landing, Buzz Aldrin joined Neil Armstrong and described the Moon as "A Magnificent Desolation".