Returned to Earth on July 24, 1969.

The first man to land on the moon: Neil Armstrong

On July 20, 1969, the "Apollo-11" spacecraft undertook the first manned mission to the moon. For the completion of this mission, three of the best astronauts were selected from 50 active astronauts. They are Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins. Armstrong served as flight director. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon aboard Apollo 11, achieving a great step in human history.

Neil Armstrong, the commander and pilot of Apollo 11, landed on the surface of the moon in July 1969, becoming the first person to operate on a celestial body other than the Earth. His trip to the moon was one of the most significant events in human history. He once said famously: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." When he returned to Earth, He became a world hero, so much so that today, 30 years later, his name is still known to people around the world. In honor of his achievement, a lunar crater near his landing site was named Armstrong.

Neil Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. He first flew on a plane when he was 6 years old and took flying lessons as a teenager. He obtained his pilot's license at an age before he could legally drive. In 1947, he entered Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, where he studied aeronautical engineering and became a Navy Reserve Flying Officer. In 1950, he flew 78 combat missions in Korea, was shot down once, and was awarded the Air Medal three times.

In 1955, he joined NASA as a non-military high-speed test pilot (he was one of 12 people who flew the X-15 cutting-edge research aircraft, which could fly at supersonic speeds). Fly and reach very high altitudes. Eight of the 12 pilots, including Armstrong, flew to an altitude of 80 kilometers (50 miles), an achievement once considered necessary for future astronauts). On September 17, 1962, he was selected as one of the second batch of nine astronauts to be trained. He was also the first non-military astronaut. Three years later, Armstrong became the reserve pilot for the Gemini 5 mission.

On March 16, 1966, Armstrong made the first space flight as the pilot of Gemini 8. The flight lasted 10 hours, 41 minutes and 26 seconds and included the first docking of the Agena target rocket with another spacecraft that was autonomously navigating in orbit. He successfully caused the Agena rocket to separate from his spacecraft and crash into the Pacific Ocean, the first emergency landing of an American spacecraft. Later that year, he became the reserve pilot of Gemini 11.

In 1968, "Apollo 8" was preparing to fly. On July 16, 1969, Armstrong became the commander of Apollo 11. He flew to the Moon with young astronauts Michael Collins and Aldrin. After arriving at the moon, Collins stayed in orbit while Armstrong boarded the Kitty Hawk lunar lander to the lunar surface, avoiding lunar boulders and landing smoothly in the Sea of ??Tranquility. Armstrong and Aldrin spent 2 hours and 30 minutes on the lunar surface, conducting scientific experiments, collecting rock and soil samples, and leaving behind scientific equipment for the experiments and badges commemorating their landing. They left the moon on July 21 and returned to Earth on July 24.

In 1970, Armstrong was awarded a master's degree in aerospace engineering by the University of Southern California and published the book "First Landing on the Moon". In July, he became the vice president of the NASA Aeronautics Association. In 1971, he worked at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio as a professor of aerospace engineering. In 1979, he left the University of Cincinnati. In 1985, he worked for the National Space Council.