Barrier
Apollo 11 footprint on
moon, courtesy of NASA,
1969
"The Eagle has landed"-Neil Armstrong, quote sourtesy NASA mission report.
After Apollo 11 landed on July 20th, they almost immediately launched back on the 21st and splashed down on the 24th.
Then on July 24,1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin fulfilled Kennedy’s promise from 1961 to land a man on the moon before the decade was out. When the Eagle module landed, the first man to step on the moon was the NASA veteran Neil Armstrong, followed by Buzz Aldrin. These few steps shattered humankind's beliefs of what was possible and achievable if people came together for a common goal of science. The now famous words of Armstrong summarized this accomplishment for mankind and why we needed this accomplishment for further understanding of the moon. All the hard work that NASA underwent to make a lunar landing possible paid off when Aldrin planted the American flag.
These few steps also broke the tensions and conflict between the Soviet Union and the U.S. If the Space Race was not ended, the Cold War could have turned into another war, and we may never have come together to explore and discover the secrets of the moon. This event brought together more than just Americans but all countries to celebrate this spectacular scientific and engineering feat.