Claim: Neil Armstrong was an astronaut.

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon . Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin , both American , landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20 , 1969 , at 20:18 UTC . Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC ; Aldrin joined him about 20 minutes later . They spent about two and a quarter hours together outside the spacecraft , and collected 47.5 lb of lunar material to bring back to Earth . Michael Collins piloted the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the Moon 's surface . Armstrong and Aldrin spent just under a day on the lunar surface before rendezvousing with Columbia in lunar orbit .   Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island , Florida , on July 16 , and was the fifth manned mission of NASA 's Apollo program . The Apollo spacecraft had three parts : a command module -LRB- CM -RRB- with a cabin for the three astronauts , and the only part that landed back on Earth ; a service module -LRB- SM -RRB- , which supported the command module with propulsion , electrical power , oxygen , and water ; and a lunar module -LRB- LM -RRB- that had two stages -- a lower stage for landing on the Moon , and an upper stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit . After being sent toward the Moon by the Saturn V 's upper stage , the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and traveled for three days until they entered into lunar orbit . Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the lunar module Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquility . They stayed a total of about 21.5 hours on the lunar surface . The astronauts used Eagle '' 's upper stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the command module . They jettisoned Eagle '' before they performed the maneuvers that blasted them out of lunar orbit on a trajectory back to Earth . They returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 .   Broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience , Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and described the event as `` one small step for -LSB- a -RSB- man , one giant leap for mankind . '' Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by U.S. President John F. Kennedy : `` before this decade is out , of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth . ''