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Apollo 11 moon mission anniversary: The steps that made history

Declaring ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’, Neil Armstrong took the first lunar steps 50 years ago.

"The three crew members of NASA''s Apollo 11 lunar landing mission - Commander Neil Amstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin ''Buzz'' Aldrin JR - pose for a group port — The three crew members of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing mission - Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr - pose for a group portrait before the launch. [File: Space Frontiers/Getty Images]

Fifty years ago, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, took the first steps on the moon.

The moment unified hundreds of millions of people worldwide in a way never seen before or since.

People tuned in to radios or watched on their television screens on July 20, 1969, as Armstrong, who took the first steps 18 minutes before Aldrin, declared, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. The launch took place four days earlier on July 16, 1969.

Astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon as Armstrong and Aldrin explored the surface, recently told the Associated Press, “how often can you get people around our globe to agree on anything? Hardly ever.”

The now-88-year-old added, “It was a wonderful achievement in the sense that people everywhere around the planet applauded it: north, south, east, west, rich, poor, Communist, whatever.”

The moment, aimed at winning the space race and beating the Soviet Union to the moon, was the result of eight years of work by more than 400,000 people and billions of dollars. After six more missions, the Apollo programme was ended in 1972.

Fifty years later, the United States is at it again. This time, aiming to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024, four years earlier than initially planned.

Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin walk to the van that will take the Apollo 11 crew to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida on July 16, 1969. [File: AP Photo]

The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off July 16, 1969 from Kennedy Space Center''s Launch Complex in Florida. [File: NASA/Getty Images] — The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off on July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex in Florida. [File: NASA/Getty Images]

Then-Vice President Spiro Agnew And former President Lyndon Johnson watch the liftoff of Apollo 11 from the stands located at the Kennedy Space Center. [File: NASA/Getty Images] — Then-Vice President Spiro Agnew and former President Lyndon Johnson watch the liftoff of Apollo 11 from the stands at the Kennedy Space Center. [File: NASA/Getty Images]

"People watch the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket launch on multiple TV''s at a Sears department store in White Plains, New York on July 16, 1969. [File: Ron Frehm/AP Photo] " — People watch the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket launch on multiple TVs at a Sears department store in White Plains, New York, on July 16, 1969. [File: Ron Frehm/AP Photo]

"Neil Armstrong descended the nine-rung ladder first, his left boot, size 9½, touching the lunar surface at 10:56pm EST. Buzz Aldrin followed him out 18 minutes later. [File: NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Im — Neil Armstrong descended the nine-rung ladder first, his left boot, size 9½, touching the lunar surface at 10:56pm EST. Buzz Aldrin followed him out 18 minutes later. [File: NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images]

"Astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses for a photograph beside the deployed US flag. [File: Nasa/Getty Images] " — Astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses for a photograph beside the deployed US flag stiffened with wires to make it look as if it were waving in the windless vacuum. [File: Nasa/Getty Images]

"Working in one-sixth Earth''s gravity, Armstrong and Aldrin gather rocks, set up experiments and plant an American flag stiffened with wires to make it look as if it were waving in the windless vacuum — Working in one-sixth of the Earth's gravity, Armstrong and Aldrin gather rocks and set up experiments. [File: NASA/Getty Images]

Flight controllers work in the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center during the Apollo 11 lunar extravehicular activity on July 20, 1969. [File: NASA/AP Photo]

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin works on a solar wind experiment device on the surface of the moon. [File: NASA/AP Photo]

With a half-Earth in the background, the Lunar Module ascent stage with Moon-walking Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr approaches for a meeting with the Apollo Command Module manned by Mic — With a half-Earth in the background, the Lunar Module ascent stage with moon-walking astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr approaches for a meeting with the Apollo Command Module manned by Michael Collins. [File: NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images]

Astronaut Neil Armstrong smiles inside the Lunar Module July 20, 1969. [File: NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images]

"US Navy members disinfect Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A Armstrong, Michael Collins And Edwin E Aldrin Jr after getting into the life raft during recovery operations after the completion of their succes — US Navy members disinfect Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin Jr in a life raft during recovery operations after the completion of their successful lunar landing mission. [File: Nasa/Getty Images]

Then-President Richard Nixon gives an ''OK'' sign as he greets Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin in a quarantine van aboard the USS Hornet on July 24, 1969, after spl — Then-President Richard Nixon gives an "OK" sign as he greets Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin in a quarantine van aboard the USS Hornet on July 24, 1969, after splashdown and recovery in the Pacific Ocean. [File: AP Photo]

"New York City welcomes the Apollo 11 crew in a showering of ticker tape down Broadway and Park Avenue on August 13, 1968. [File: NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images] " — New York City welcomes the Apollo 11 crew in a showering of ticker tape down Broadway and Park Avenue on August 13, 1969. [File: NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images]

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