On NationalToday.com, I found out that today is National Moon Day. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to step foot on the moon.
Millions of people watched the moon landing on their TV sets. Neil Armstrong famously said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
According to National Geographic Kids, the United States was in a "space race" with Russia. Each country wanted to be the first to explore space. Russia launched the first artificial satellite called Sputnik 1. Russia also sent the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961. Alan Shepard became the first American in space a month later.
President John F. Kennedy challenged NASA to put a human on the moon in 10 years or less. On July 16, 1969, Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins launch into space in the spacecraft Apollo 11. Four days later, they neared the moon's surface.
Collins boarded the Apollo 11's command module, the Columbia and orbited the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin got into the lunar module named The Eagle to go to the moon's surface. Now I understand what people mean when they say "The Eagle has landed."
For more cool info about Apollo 11, here's a link to NASA's website about it.
Take the Moon Quiz. The National Geographic Kids website had this fun quiz about the moon. How many questions can you get right?
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