Michael Collins (astronaut) in the context of Chambley-Bussières Air Base

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini. It was conceived in 1960 as a three-person spacecraft during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.

Kennedy's goal was accomplished on the Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module (LM) on July 20, 1969, and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command and service module (CSM), and all three landed safely on Earth in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last, Apollo 17, in December 1972. In these six spaceflights, twelve people walked on the Moon.

Apollo 11 was the first spaceflight to land humans on the Moon, conducted by NASA from July 16 to 24, 1969. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle on July 20 at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the surface about six hours later, at 02:56 UTC on July 21. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes afterward, and together they spent about two and a half hours exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. They collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth before re-entering the Lunar Module. In total, they were on the Moon’s surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before returning to the Command Module Columbia, which remained in lunar orbit, piloted by Michael Collins.

Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on July 16 at 13:32 UTC (9:32 am EDT, local time). It was the fifth crewed mission of the Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft consisted of three parts: the command module (CM), which housed the three astronauts and was the only part to return to Earth; the service module (SM), which provided propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water to the command module; and the Lunar Module (LM), which had two stages—a descent stage with a large engine and fuel tanks for landing on the Moon, and a lighter ascent stage containing a cabin for two astronauts and a small engine to return them to lunar orbit.

Buzz Aldrin (/ˈɔːldrɪn/ AWL-drin; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. He was the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong. Following the deaths of Armstrong in 2012 and pilot Michael Collins in 2021, he is the last surviving Apollo 11 crew member. Following Jim Lovell's death in 2025, Aldrin became the oldest living astronaut.

Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Aldrin graduated third in the class of 1951 from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was commissioned into the United States Air Force and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and shot down two MiG-15 fighter jets.

NASA Astronaut Group 3 (nicknamed "The Fourteen") was a group of fourteen astronauts selected by NASA for the Gemini and Apollo programs. The Apollo spacecraft had a crew of three, so more astronauts were required. Their selection was announced in October 1963. Four died in training accidents before they could fly in space: Theodore Freeman, Charles Bassett and C. C. Williams in air crashes, and Roger Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire. All of the surviving ten flew Apollo missions. Five also flew Gemini missions: David Scott, Gene Cernan, Michael Collins, Richard Gordon and Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin, Alan Bean, Cernan and Scott walked on the Moon, and Bill Anders, Collins and Gordon orbited the Moon but did not land.

Seven were from the United States Air Force (Aldrin, Anders, Bassett, Collins, Donn Eisele, Freeman and Scott), four from the United States Navy (Bean, Cernan, Chaffee and Gordon), one (Williams) was from the United States Marine Corps, and two (Walter Cunningham and Rusty Schweickart) were selected as civilians, although both had prior military experience. Like the two groups before them, all members of the group were male and white. All were married except for Williams, who became the first bachelor astronaut. Group 3 was the first to waive the requirement that candidates have a test pilot background, with 1,000 hours of jet aircraft experience accepted as a substitute. This applied to Aldrin, Anders, Cernan, Chaffee, Cunningham and Schweickart; all the others were test pilots. On average, its members were younger, slightly taller and heavier than those of the previous two groups, and better educated.

The Apollo program was a United States human spaceflight program carried out from 1961 to 1972 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which landed the first astronauts on the Moon. The program used the Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles to lift the Command/Service Module (CSM) and Lunar Module (LM) spacecraft into space, and the Little Joe II rocket to test a launch escape system which was expected to carry the astronauts to safety in the event of a Saturn failure. Uncrewed test flights beginning in 1966 demonstrated the safety of the launch vehicles and spacecraft to carry astronauts, and four crewed flights beginning in October 1968 demonstrated the ability of the spacecraft to carry out a lunar landing mission.

Apollo achieved the first crewed lunar landing on the Apollo 11 mission, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their LM Eagle in the Sea of Tranquility and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the CSM Columbia, and all three landed safely on Earth on July 24, 1969. Five subsequent missions landed astronauts on various lunar sites, ending in December 1972 with 12 men having walked on the Moon and 842 pounds (382 kg) of lunar rocks and soil samples returned to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history.