Apollo 11 — NASA public affairs summary (excerpt)

Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon. Commander Neil A. Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. landed the lunar module Eagle in the Sea of Tranquility on 20 July 1969. Command module pilot Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in Columbia.

Armstrong was the first human to step onto the lunar surface, followed by Aldrin. They spent about two and a half hours outside the lunar module, collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kilograms) of lunar material, and deployed scientific instruments including a passive seismic experiment and a laser ranging retroreflector.

The crew launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 16 July 1969 aboard a Saturn V. After the lunar surface excursion they lifted off in the ascent stage of Eagle, docked with Columbia, and returned to Earth. Splashdown was in the Pacific Ocean on 24 July 1969. The command module is preserved by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Apollo 11 fulfilled the goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth before the decade was out. NASA administered the program. The mission used the Saturn V launch vehicle, the command and service module, and the lunar module.

This text is US government work (NASA), public domain, included as a retrieval document for a RAG demo.