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First Man on the Moon

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For thousands of years, man had looked to the heavens and dreamed of walking on the moon. On July 20, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong became the very first to accomplish that dream, followed only minutes later by Buzz Aldrin .

Their accomplishment placed the United States ahead of the Soviets in the Space Race and gave people around the world the hope of future space exploration.

Fast Facts: First Moon Landing

Date: July 20, 1969

Mission: Apollo 11

Crew: Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Michael Collins

Becoming the First Person on the Moon

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the United States was surprised to find themselves behind in the race to space.

Still behind the Soviets four years later, President John F. Kennedy gave inspiration and hope  to the American people in his speech to Congress on May 25, 1961 in which he stated, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Just eight years later, the United States accomplished this goal by placing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.

At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969, the Saturn V rocket launched Apollo 11 into the sky from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On the ground, there were over 3,000 journalists, 7,000 dignitaries, and approximately a half million tourists watching this momentous occasion. The event went smoothly and as scheduled.

After one-and-a-half orbits around Earth, the Saturn V thrusters flared once again and the crew had to manage the delicate process of attaching the lunar module (nicknamed Eagle) onto the nose of the joined command and service module (nicknamed Columbia). Once attached, Apollo 11 left the Saturn V rockets behind as they began their three-day journey to the moon, called the translunar coast.

A Difficult Landing

On July 19, at 1:28 p.m. EDT, Apollo 11 entered the moon's orbit. After spending a full day in lunar orbit, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin boarded the lunar module and detached it from the command module for their descent to the moon's surface.

As the Eagle departed, Michael Collins , who remained in the Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin were on the moon, checked for any visual problems with the lunar module. He saw none and told the Eagle crew, "You cats take it easy on the lunar surface."

As the Eagle headed toward the moon's surface, several different warning alarms were activated. Armstrong and Aldrin realized that the computer system was guiding them to a landing area that was strewn with boulders the size of small cars.

With some last-minute maneuvers, Armstrong guided the lunar module to a safe landing area. At 4:17 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969, the landing module landed on the moon's surface in the Sea of Tranquility with only seconds of fuel left.

Armstrong reported to the command center in Houston, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Houston responded, "Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again."

Walking on the Moon

After the excitement, exertion, and drama of the lunar landing, Armstrong and Aldrin spent the next six-and-a-half hours resting and then preparing themselves for their moon walk.

At 10:28 p.m. EDT, Armstrong turned on the video cameras. These cameras transmitted images from the moon to over half a billion people on Earth who sat watching their televisions. It was phenomenal that these people were able to witness the amazing events that were unfolding hundreds of thousands of miles above them.

Neil Armstrong was the first person out of the lunar module. He climbed down a ladder and then became the first person to set foot on the moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT. Armstrong then stated, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

A few minutes later, Aldrin exited the lunar module and stepped foot on the moon's surface.

Working on the Surface

Although Armstrong and Aldrin got a chance to admire the tranquil, desolate beauty of the moon's surface, they also had a lot of work to do.

NASA had sent the astronauts with a number of scientific experiments to set up and the men were to collect samples from the area around their landing site. They returned with 46 pounds of moon rocks. Armstrong and Aldrin also set up a flag of the United States.

While on the moon, the astronauts received a call from President Richard Nixon . Nixon began by saying, "Hello, Neil and Buzz. I am talking to you by telephone from the Oval Office of the White House. And this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made. I just can't tell you how proud we are of what you have done."

Time to Leave

After spending 21 hours and 36 minutes upon the moon (including 2 hours and 31 minutes of outside exploration), it was time for Armstrong and Aldrin to leave.

To lighten their load, the two men threw out some excess materials like backpacks, moon boots, urine bags, and a camera. These fell to the moon's surface and were to remain there. Also left behind was a plaque which read, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

The lunar module blasted off from the moon's surface at 1:54 p.m. EDT on July 21, 1969. Everything went well and the Eagle re-docked with the Columbia. After transferring all of their samples onto the Columbia, the Eagle was set adrift in the moon's orbit.

The Columbia, with all three astronauts back on board, then began their three-day journey back to Earth.

Splash Down

Before the Columbia command module entered the Earth's atmosphere, it separated itself from the service module. When the capsule reached 24,000 feet, three parachutes deployed to slow down the Columbia's descent.

At 12:50 p.m. EDT on July 24, the Columbia safely landed in the Pacific Ocean , southwest of Hawaii. They landed just 13 nautical miles from the U.S.S. Hornet that was scheduled to pick them up.

Once picked up, the three astronauts were immediately placed into quarantine for fears of possible moon germs. Three days after being retrieved, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins were transferred to a quarantine facility in Houston for further observation.

On August 10, 1969, 17 days after splashdown, the three astronauts were released from quarantine and able to return to their families.

The astronauts were treated like heroes on their return. They were met by President Nixon and given ticker-tape parades. These men had accomplished what men had only dared to dream for thousands of years—to walk on the moon.

• History of the Apollo 11 Mission, "One Giant Leap for Mankind"
• Michael Collins, Astronaut Who Piloted Apollo 11's Command Module
• Biography of Neil Armstrong
• The Space Race of the 1960s
• Apollo 8 Brought 1968 to a Hopeful End
• Neil Armstrong Quotes
• Apollo 14 Mission: Return to the Moon after Apollo 13
• Space First: From Space Dogs to a Tesla
• Did Politics Fuel the Space Race?
• History of the Lunar Rover
• Apollo 13: A Mission in Trouble
• Project Gemini: NASA's Early Steps to Space
• Biography of John W. Young
• The Evolution of the Space Suit
• The History of Transportation
• The Apollo 1 Fire

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Neil Armstrong

By: History.com Editors

Published: September 26, 2023

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, arguably the greatest technological achievement in human history. The moon landing made Armstrong famous, but the Navy pilot from Ohio was never comfortable with the spotlight. Right up until his death in 2012, Armstrong deflected praise for his role in the historic Apollo 11 mission , echoing his famous words as he first stepped onto the lunar surface: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Early Life and Korean War

Neil Armstrong always wanted to fly. He was born on August 5, 1930 near Wapakoneta, Ohio, less than 60 miles from the Wright brothers’ workshop in Dayton. In 1936, when he was six years old, young Neil rode in his first airplane, a “Tin Goose” Ford tri-motor passenger plane. He was hooked. At 16, Armstrong earned his student pilot’s license, even before he had a driver’s license.

In 1947, Armstrong attended Purdue University on a Naval scholarship, studying aeronautical engineering. As part of his scholarship, the Navy trained Armstrong as a fighter pilot in Florida. His college studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Korean War , where Armstrong flew 78 combat missions. His aircraft, the F-9F Panther jet, was one of the first jet fighters to launch from a carrier. 

NASA Test Pilot

After finishing college, Armstrong went to work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. The mild-mannered kid from Ohio made his name as one of the most daring and skilled test pilots at NASA’s Flight Research Center (now the Armstrong Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

During seven years as a test pilot, Armstrong flew 200 different aircraft that pushed the limits of speed and altitude, including the legendary X-15. High over the California desert, Armstrong reached speeds of more than 4,000 mph and took the needle-nosed X-15 to the edge of space. Armstrong’s steady hand as a test pilot was instrumental to the success of NASA’s first Mercury astronauts . Soon he’d become one of them.

The Gemini Program

1962 was a year of joy and heartache for the Armstrong family. Neil was chosen for NASA’s astronaut training program in Houston, but he and his wife Janet also lost their second child, a two-year-old daughter named Karen, to an inoperable brain tumor.

Armstrong buried himself in his work preparing for the Gemini program, NASA’s next step toward reaching the moon. In 1966, Armstrong was chosen as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, the first time that NASA astronauts would attempt to connect two spacecraft in orbit, a difficult and dangerous maneuver known as “rendezvous and docking.”

In March, 1966, Armstrong and his copilot David Scott rocketed into orbit and successfully docked with the target spacecraft Agena, but things quickly went awry. A thruster on the Gemini 8 capsule malfunctioned and the two interlocked spacecraft began to veer off course. To avoid burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere, Armstrong detached from the Agena, but the release of the Agena’s weight sent the Gemini capsule into an uncontrolled spin.

The G-forces created by the end-over-end spin were crushing and both astronauts were on the verge of losing consciousness when Armstrong activated a set of secondary thrusters and wrestled the Gemini capsule back under control. There’s no doubt that Armstrong’s test pilot nerves saved both astronauts’ lives.

The Moon Landing

Armstrong was selected for the Apollo program, the final push to the moon, but he almost never made it back to space. On May 6, 1968, Armstrong was in Houston conducting his 22nd test flight of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, an ungainly practice aircraft. Without warning, the LLRV veered out of control. Armstrong ejected and parachuted to safety, seconds before the LLRV crashed in a fiery explosion.

Undaunted, Armstrong continued his training and was chosen by NASA as the spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the mission to land the first men on the moon. His crewmates were Michael Collins , pilot of the command module that orbited the moon, and Buzz Aldrin , the lunar module pilot. Aldrin lobbied hard to be the first to step on the lunar surface, but the NASA brass chose Armstrong for his calm confidence and total lack of ego.

Those trademark nerves were on display on July 20, 1969 as Armstrong piloted the Lunar Module toward the surface of the moon. With fuel running dangerously low, Armstrong switched to manual control to steer the fragile spacecraft away from a field of “Volkswagen”-sized boulders and land the astronauts safely in the silty lunar soil.

As millions watched the live broadcast on their televisions, the shy pilot from Ohio descended the ladder of the Lunar Module and uttered his now-famous words: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” Because of the static-filled connection, the “a” was inaudible, but Armstrong insisted that he said it.

Life After the Moon Landing

Overnight, Armstrong became the most famous man alive. Four million spectators lined the streets of New York City to welcome home Armstrong and his fellow Apollo 11 astronauts in a ticker-tape parade. But Armstrong wasn’t in it for the fame and accolades. He quietly went back to a desk job at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., then earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California in 1970.

Armstrong retired from NASA in 1971 and took a job as an engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati in his home state of Ohio. In 1986, he joined the Rogers Commission investigating the tragic Challenger shuttle explosion . Later, Armstrong served on a number of corporate boards in the aerospace industry and testified before Congress about the importance of maintaining a manned space program.  

In 2005, Armstrong consented to a rare television interview on 60 Minutes , in which he was asked directly if he was uncomfortable with the fame of being the first man on the moon. “No, I just don’t deserve it,” replied Armstrong, smiling. “Circumstance put me into that particular role. That wasn’t planned by anyone.”

In 2012, Armstrong went in for heart bypass surgery and the 82-year-old astronaut died of complications.

HISTORY Vault: The Apollo 11 Moon Landing

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Apollo 11 People

Neil Armstrong

The first human to walk on the Moon “One giant leap for mankind”

As the commander of the first crewed mission to land on the Moon, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on its surface in July 1969

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"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

Armstrong had previously flown on Gemini VIII in 1965. On that mission, he became the first American civilian in space and the first person to dock two vehicles in space successfully.

Astronaut Frank Borman described Armstrong as a quiet, perceptive, thoroughly decent man

Armstrong left NASA in 1971 to become a professor , dedicating his life to education

Armstrong enjoyed a lifelong passion for aerospace engineering

Which started at Purdue University with a Navy scholarship , before he served as a fighter pilot in the Korean War

After the war, Armstrong left the Navy and completed his aeronautical engineering degree, at which point he became a test pilot for NASA, putting him on the path to Apollo 11

Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012 , from complications following bypass surgery. Two years later, NASA named one of its flight research centers in his honor.

Armstrong’s name has gone down in history on Earth, and humankind’s first-ever lunar footprint — with no wind to blow it away — should remain on the Moon for millions of years to come

How many people have walked on the Moon?

Find out about the astronauts who have visited the Moon

The first crewed lunar landing in 1969 was a historic triumph for the USA and humankind. Including the Apollo 11 mission, 12 men have walked on the Moon. But who were they?

Who was the first person on the Moon? 

"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind."

Neil Armstrong Facts

Neil armstrong's education , neil armstrong joins nasa , neil armstrong on the moon, armstrong's career after the moon landing, armstrong's death.

"As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them, remembered for taking humankind's first small step on a world beyond our own."

Neil Armstrong's legacy

How many people have been on the moon.

How long does it take to get to the Moon?

Earth's distance from the moon, crewed missions, the first human-made object to reach the moon, the first crewed mission to reach the moon , the fastest object to pass the moon .

Discover great photos of the Moon

Visit the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition

Who was the last person to walk on the Moon? 

"As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."

Moon landing facts 

• The objective of the Apollo programme wasn't originally a lunar landing. When it was announced in 1960, the Apollo project's goal was to send a three-person crew to orbit the Moon, not land on it. It wasn't until US President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous speech in May 1961 that a return journey from the Moon's surface became the programme's intention. 
• As Neil Armstrong was the photographer of the trip, almost all of the still images are of astronaut Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon, not Neil Armstrong. 
• Saturn V, the rocket used in the Apollo missions, remains the largest rocket ever successfully to launch, weighing over 2.9 million kilograms. It also never lost any crew members or payloads between 1967 and 1973.
• During the final stage of the lunar landing, Neil had to take over and control the lunar module manually in order to avoid a rocky landing site. If it had taken him 23 seconds more, the fuel levels would have been too low to continue the mission. 
• Armstrong's first step onto the Moon wasn't small at all. As Armstrong landed the Lunar Module onto the Moon's surface so lightly, the shock absorbers did not compress. This meant his first step was over a metre jump. 
• Before the Apollo missions, NASA was unsure as to whether the Moon environment contained microbes or toxins. When the crews of Apollo 11, 12 and 14 returned to Earth, they were placed in quarantine for several weeks. With the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, the astronauts were even forced to spend Thanksgiving inside a quarantined zone, so a turkey dinner was specially prepared for them. Fortunately for the crews of Apollo 15, 16 and 17, NASA  concluded there was no risk of contamination and scrapped its quarantine measures in 1971. 

How many flags are on the Moon? 

Shop stylish moon-inspired gifts.

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Who was the first person on the moon? Here's everything you need to know about Neil Armstrong

This weekend marks 50 years since Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in the Apollo 11 mission - here's what you need to know about the American astronaut

• 17:33, 16 JUL 2019

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Today marks the pivotal moment the Apollo 11 mission blasted off from Earth 50 years ago to land on the moon just four days later.

This monumental move put astronaut Neil Armstrong firmly on the map in history as he became the first person to ever walk on the moon.

On Saturday, July 20, events will take place across the world to commemorate the team who took part in NASA's pioneering 225,623-mile journey.

On the mission, Armstrong was joined by American astronaut Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin - who was the second pilot to walk on the surface, just 20 minutes after Armstrong.

With lots of talk about the Apollo 11's 50th anniversary, let's get to know the main man himself. Here's everything you need to know about Neil Armstrong.

When was Neil Armstrong born?

Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5 in 1930.

How did his career start?

He studied aeronautical engineering at university, with his tuition paid for by the U.S Navy under the Holloway Plan.

Armstrong went on to join the Navy, as first a midshipman then a naval aviator. He partook in the Korean War, flying one of the US Navy's first successful carrier-based fighter jets - the Grumman F9F Panther.

Post war, Armstrong completed a bachelor's degree to become a test pilot at NASA's high speed flight station in California. He was selected as an astronaut in 1962.

He fulfilled various roles within the space agency before making his first spaceflight as a command pilot in March 1966, becoming NASA's first civilian astronaut to fly in space.

Three years later he embarked on the historic Apollo 11 mission as commander.

What were his first words on the moon?

The iconic words that still ring in people's ears today after all of those years:

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

When did he resign?

Armstrong resigned from NASA in 1971 and began to teach in the department for Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati up until 1979.

He then served on the Apollo 13 accident investigation - this was the seventh crewed mission in the space programme, which was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days after launching.

What was his family-life like?

Armstrong met his first wife Janet Elizabeth Shearon whilst at university.

The couple married in January 1956, but separated in 1990.

They had three children together - Eric, Karen and Mark. Sadly daughter Karen was diagnosed with a brain tumour and died of pneumonia in 1962 at the age of just two.

Armstrong met his second wife Carol Held Knight in 1992 and were married by 1994.

When did Armstrong die?

Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, aged 82.

He underwent a heart bypass operation and died a few weeks later from complications resulting from the procedure.

Shortly after his death, his family released a statement: "For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

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• Who Were the First Astronauts to Land on the Moon?

In 1961, President John Kennedy spoke of land human beings on the moon, and even though they were not ready, they knew that it was possible. By then NASA was trying to send astronauts to space as they prepare for the first ever moon landing which happened eight years later. The three people on the moon-landing mission were Edwin Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins. These three astronauts were experienced on Apollo 11 and had been to space on different missions before going to the moon.

Who Were the Astronauts on the Moon Landing Mission?

Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, and at age 38 he became the first civilian ever to command two space missions. He had previously piloted Gemini 8 on a mission that resulted in two vessels docking in space for the first time. Michael Collins was the one flying Gemini-10, and he space walked for over one hour. Edwin Aldrin was the first individual with a doctorates degree to go to the moon. Born in New Jersey, January 20, 1930, Edwin piloted Gemini-12, and he spent 20 minutes in space just to prove that you can work on your spacecraft.

Launching of Apollo 11

Before the mission, the planners had studied the surface of the moon for over two years to determine the best position to land the spacecraft. Using the up-close photographs captured by a surveyor vessel and the high-resolution photographs captured by the Lunar-Orbiter satellite, they narrowed the first thirty landing spots to three. Some of the factors which helped them determine the landing spot included the terrain of the surface including craters, cliffs, and boulders. On July 16, 1969, NASA launched the Apollo 11 at the Kennedy Space Center.

Who Were the First Men on the Moon?

The astronauts entered the lunar module (known as the eagle) on July 20, 1969, where they separated from the Command/Service Module and proceeded to the moon. Collins remained in the orbit where he did some experiments and took some photographs while Armstrong and Edwin landed on the moon. After landing, they confirmed if the systems were ok and then configured the vessel before they ate. Armstrong and Aldrin skipped the scheduled four hour rest and proceeded to explore the moon instead.

Armstrong was the first to descend at around 11:56 pm followed by Aldrin twenty minutes later. Armstrong was the one documenting the landing; therefore, most of the photographs captured on the moon were of Aldrin. While on the moon, Aldrin and Armstrong did some experiments and collected rocks and soil samples to take back to earth. They erected the flag of the United States on the moon. They even spoke to President Nixon while on the moon.

Before leaving they left a silicon disk containing messages from seventy-three nations plus the names of the NASA and congressional leaders. Armstrong left memorial medallions containing the names of the astronauts who perished on Apollo 1, Yuri Gagarin (the first man to space) and two cosmonauts who had also died. The astronauts walked a total distance of approximately 3,300 feet and collected 47.51 pounds of samples.

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NASA announces 4 astronauts who will travel around the moon on Artemis II

The team includes the first woman and first person of color on a moon mission.

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced Monday the four astronauts who will partake in the next Artemis mission and fly around the moon.

The Artemis II team will be made up of three Americans -- Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch and Reid Wiseman -- and one Canadian, Jeremy Hansen.

The team includes Koch as the first woman and Glover as the first person of color who will eventually go on to step foot on the lunar surface. Glover will be the pilot of the spacecraft and Wiseman will be the commander of Artemis II.

The agencies made the announcement at a media event at the NASA Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.

MORE: How Hurricane Nicole impacted Artemis I rocket

"We are here today with the mission to introduce the world to the crew of Artemis II for names, for explorers, for my friends, answering the call to once more rocket away from Earth, and chart a course around the moon," Joe Acaba, chief of NASA's astronaut office, said at the start of the event.

Glover, 46, will be the first person of color to voyage to the moon. Glover was selected by NASA as an astronaut in 2013 and most recently served as a pilot and second-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2020.

He has spent roughly 167 days in space. According to NASA, Glover was the first African American astronaut to join a long-duration expedition crew aboard the International Space Station.

"We need to celebrate this moment in human history because Artemis II is more than a mission to the moon and back," Glover said. "It's more than a mission that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the moon. It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars and this crew, we'll never forget that."

Koch, 43, made history with fellow astronaut Jessica Mer in October 2019 when they performed the first all-female spacewalk together.

Koch was also selected as an astronaut in 2013 and has completed six spacewalks. She currently holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days.

"We're not going to go to the moon right away," she said. "We're gonna stay in an amazing high orbit, reaching a peak of tens of thousands of miles while we test out all the systems on Orion and even see how it maneuvers in space. And then if everything looks good, we're heading to the moon."

Wiseman, 47, is a decorated naval aviator who was selected to be an astronaut in June 2009.

In 2014, he served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station and, over a 165-day mission, completed more than 300 experiments with his crewmates. Wiseman recently served as chief of the astronaut office, but stepped down in November because the chief is unable to fly in space.

MORE: Artemis I Orion capsule splashes down after NASA mission near moon

Hansen, 47, was a fighter pilot before he joined the CSA and he currently helps NASA with astronaut training and mission operations.

Not only will this be Hansen's first mission in space but he will also be the first Canadian to ever travel to the moon.

President Joe Biden congratulated the team in a tweet Monday, which included a video of him speaking with the Artemis II team.

"Look, I want to thank you for your incredible service," Biden said in the clip. "The mission you're about to go on, the United States can return people to the moon. It's hard to believe for the first time in over 50 years."

It comes after the Artemis I mission was completed in December last year after spending 25.5 days in space and making a 1.4-million-mile journey around the moon, according to NASA.

Artemis I was the first step of NASA's ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence on the moon and, later on, to send a crewed shuttle to Mars.

Artemis II is scheduled to send four astronauts into space in 2024 for a lunar flyby before returning to Earth.

It will be the first crewed mission aboard NASA's new Orion spacecraft and the first to launch on the agency's new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.

"With Artemis I, we set out to prove that the hardware was ready, that SLS was prepared to launch our astronauts skyward, that Orion was equipped to carry them to the moon and back safely again," said Norman Knight, director of Flight Operations Directorate at NASA. "Artemis I was a resounding success and Artemis II will leverage that by putting humans in the loop."

The mission will take approximately 10 days, but the system will need to undergo massive amounts of testing first to make sure it can support humans living and working in deep space, NASA said.

This will be the first set of missions that NASA has used to send a crew to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, more than 50 years ago.

The mission broke several records including the longest spacewalk and largest lunar samples brought back to Earth and also involved several experiments, including sending five mice into space with the crew.

MORE: On anniversary of NASA's Webb telescope reaching destination, here are the most striking images so far

"Over the course of the Artemis missions, the first woman and the first person of color will take giant leaps, on the lunar surface," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

In total, the Artemis expedition includes four missions, each of which will cost roughly $4.1 billion. The project will cost up to $93 billion by 2025, according to an audit from the NASA Office of the Inspector General.

Artemis III plans to send four astronauts to the moon in 2025 while Artemis IV plans to be the second lunar landing in 2027.

In addition to setting up a permanent base camp on the moon, the program aims to be the gateway to eventual human missions to Mars.

"Under Artemis, we will explore the frontiers of space and push the boundaries of what's possible," said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. "You may walk on the moon or be one of the many explorers who venture onward to Mars. We're all looking forward to you being a part of our mission."

ABC News' Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

Related Topics

Meet NASA’s Next Team of Astronauts to Visit the Far Side of the Moon

T ime was, there were 24 living astronauts who could boast of having visited the moon. The years and mortality have taken their toll, and half a century on, that rarefied fraternity has dwindled to 10 very old men. Today, however, NASA took a big step toward adding to their ranks, announcing the names of the four astronauts who will fly around the far side of the moon on the Artemis II mission scheduled for launch sometime in November 2024.

The crew is made up of three Americans and one Canadian astronaut, and includes the first woman and first person of color to visit the moon. They will fly a 10-day journey that will swing them once around the far side of the moon, taking them farther into space than any astronauts have ever traveled before. The current distance record is held by the crew of Apollo 13, who reached a distance of 401,056 km (249,205 mi.) from Earth during the one swing their crippled spacecraft made around the lunar far side in April 1970.

Artemis II’s 10-day mission follows the successful 25-day, uncrewed lunar mission of Artemis I, which launched on Nov. 16, 2022, and proved the mettle of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) moon rocket, and the Orion spacecraft . Most dramatically, the Artemis I mission successfully tested the ability of Orion’s heat shield to withstand the blistering 2,760º C (5,000º F) heat of reentry through Earth’s atmosphere. The Artemis II crew will rely on that protection at the end of their mission when they slam into the atmosphere at a translunar speed of 40,200 km/h (25,000 mph). If all goes as planned on Artemis II, Artemis III will return astronauts to the lunar surface perhaps as early as 2026.

But that’s for later. Today, at an event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA revealed the crew that will barnstorm the moon, sending humans to the lunar vicinity for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.

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“The largest most powerful rocket in the world is going to propel them onward and upward into the heavens and then to the moon,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, in a pre-announcement address. Then, with phrasing borrowed from President John Kennedy’s promise to land astronauts on the moon before the end of the 1960s, and with a nod to today’s international collaboration that has seen 15 countries work together to build and maintain the International Space Station (ISS), and will see a citizen of Canada become the first non-U.S. citizen to make a lunar journey, Nelson added: “We choose to go back to the moon and then on to Mars and we’re going to do it together. Because in the 21st century, NASA explores the cosmos with international partners.”

The crew chosen to make this first lunar trip in more than two generations is a considerable one. It includes:

Christina Koch

A mission specialist for Artemis II and a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Koch is an electrical engineer who began her space career at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2001. Selected as an astronaut in 2013, she launched on her first journey to space in 2019, spending 328 days aboard the ISS, marking the longest continuous space flight by a woman. Koch participated in half a dozen spacewalks, three of which were the first all-female spacewalks.

“And as the only professional engineer in the crew,” said Joe Acaba, head of the astronaut office, during the announcement of Koch’s selection, “I know who Mission Control will be calling on when it’s time to fix something on board.

Jeremy Hansen

Also serving as mission specialist for Artemis II, Hansen, hailing from London, Ontario, is a tactical fighter pilot who graduated in 1999 from the Royal Military College Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. He was selected by the Canadian Space Agency as an astronaut in 2009 and has had a long wait to be tapped to fly. Artemis II will mark his first mission to space, and at the announcement event this morning, he quickly took the opportunity to thank the people who made the opportunity possible for him.

“It is not lost on any of us that the United States could choose to go back to the moon by themselves,” he said. “But America has made a very deliberate choice over decades to curate a global team. And that in my definition is true leadership. A Canadian is going to the moon. That makes me smile when I say that.”

Victor Glover

Mission pilot for Artemis II, Glover, of Pomona, Calif., is a Naval flier and test pilot, who flew missions off the USS John F. Kennedy in support of the war in Iraq. Selected as an astronaut in 2013, he launched to the ISS in November 2020, spending 168 days aboard and participating in four spacewalks. Glover will be the first person of color to travel to the moon, though he did not take note of that historic fact in his remarks today. Instead, he applauded the work of the generations of astronauts—at one time all white—who preceded him into space.

“Human spaceflight is like a relay race,” he said, “and that baton has been passed from generation to generation and from crew member to crew member, from the Mercury Gemini, Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, Mir, the shuttle, the International Space Station, commercial crew, and now the Artemis missions. When we have the privilege of having that baton, we’re going to do our best to run a good race to make you proud.”

Reid Wiseman

Commander of the Artemis II mission, Wiseman, a Baltimore native, received a Masters degree in systems engineering at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. He was commissioned in the Navy through the Reserve Officers Training Corps in 1997 and flew combat missions in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Selected as an astronaut in 2009, he spent 165 days aboard the ISS in 2014 and conducted two spacewalks. The first person to command a mission to the moon since the late Gene Cernan in 1972, Wiseman had few words to say to the assembled crowd when that honor was announced this morning, simply commenting, “It is great to see this diverse international group. Awesome to be here with you guys.”

There might be less of the once-voluble Cernan and more of the taciturn Neil Armstrong in Wiseman—and if so, that is not a bad legacy. The commander of Apollo 11 and the first man on the moon, Armstrong knew a thing or two about how to lead a crew on a historic and perilous mission. That burden will fall to Wiseman now. And as for the joy of the experience—the sheer wonder of flying out to the moon and seeing it up close for the first time in so many decades? It was left to Koch to give voice to that.

“My fellow astronauts know that one of the questions we get all the time is, ‘Are you excited?’” she said. “We’re going to hear the words ‘Go for launch’ on top of the most powerful rocket NASA’s ever made and we’re going to ride that rocket for eight minutes into Earth orbit. We’re going to stay in an amazing high orbit, reaching a peak of tens of thousands of miles while we test out all the systems on Orion. And then if everything looks good, we’re heading to the moon. It will be a four day journey, continuing to test out every bit of Orion, going around the far side of the moon before heading home, going through the Earth’s atmosphere at over 25,000 miles per hour and splashing down in the Pacific. So am I excited?” she asked in rhetorical summation. “Absolutely.”

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Astronaut reveals the real reason why no human has been to the moon in the last 50 years

The reason why no human has been back to the moon in the last 50 years might surprise you....

Gerrard Kaonga

Going to the moon has long been a goal of humanity. A feat so impressive we did it a few times and then thought... yeah, that’ll do.

If you were alive for the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 - the first to put humans on the celestial body - you would be forgiven for thinking that we would have a bigger presence on it by now.

In the 70s, people likely spoke of future moon tourism , maybe a theme park or a casino, who knows! But what they probably wouldn’t think is the last time a human would set foot on it would be in 1972.

Even still, NASA putting 12 people on the moon remains one of the greatest achievements of the space agency, if not humanity as a whole.

However, it does beg the question, why did we stop going back?

There are still lots of reasons to return to the dusty rock in the sky, and NASA has said they plan to put US astronauts back on the moon around late 2026.

But what is with the big pause in the first place?

Well, astronaut Jim Bridenstine, who ran NASA during the Donald Trump administration, has explained that it's not science or technology limitations that have stopped the US from doing it.

Speaking to reporters in 2018 he said: “If it wasn't for the political risk, we would be on the moon right now.

“It was the political risks that prevented it from happening. The program took too long and it costs too much money."

And that is often what it can come down to, a mix of politics and economics.

NASA's 2023 budget is $25.4 billion, and the Biden administration is asking Congress to boost that to $27.2 billion for 2024.

Which might sound like a lot, but the total gets split among all the agency's divisions and ambitious projects.

And for context, the US defense budget for 2023 is about $858 billion.

On top of this, due to the money coming from the government, congress can often be slow to approve the budget which can slow down progress.

Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham spoke on the difficulties of getting more money from the government to actually send more people to the moon.

Speaking in 2015, he said: “Manned exploration is the most expensive space venture and, consequently, the most difficult for which to obtain political support.

"NASA's budget is way too low to do all the things that we've talked about."

In addition to this, other astronauts have noted that one president’s promises regarding budget increases don’t always come to fruition because they can be replaced by someone new who can simply disregard the former president’s promises.

Topics:  Space , Science , Technology

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

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NASA begins delivering 1st Artemis Moon Trees to be planted across United States

The trees began as seeds flown around the moon on NASA's uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in 2022.

The first woman slated to launch to the moon has delivered one of the first trees grown from seeds recently flown there. NASA astronaut Christina Koch presented a loblolly pine "Moon Tree" sapling to her home state of North Carolina on Wednesday (April 24). The tree began as one of more than 1,000 seeds that were flown around the moon on NASA's uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in 2022. "With the planting of an Artemis Moon Tree today at the governor's mansion, North Carolina is firmly planting the roots of exploration for generations to come," said Koch, who is targeted to launch in late 2025 as a member of the Artemis 2 crew . Koch's presentation marked one of the first deliveries to a new generation of Moon Tree stewards, whom NASA has selected from across the country. Koch's alma mater, White Oak High School in Jacksonville, North Carolina, is another of the chosen recipients. "I used to dream about going to space by looking up through the pine trees, and so, it was just a really great symbol of our commitment to North Carolina, North Carolina's commitment back to NASA, and all the amazing universities here that produce people for the aerospace industry," said Koch according to The Daily News , the local newspaper in Jacksonville. "That whole Artemis generation that's coming up here and that we can't wait to see exploring space."

Related: NASA's Artemis program: Everything you need to know

In addition to the loblolly pines, which are native to North Carolina, the Orion spacecraft that flew on Artemis 1 also carried sycamore, sweetgum, Douglas-fir and giant sequoia seeds on its 270,000-mile (435,000 kilometers), 25-day journey. Back on Earth , the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service oversaw that the seeds germinated and grew into seedlings for their distribution as Artemis Moon Trees. In August 2023, NASA put out a call for interested educational and community organizations to apply to grow a Moon Tree . The space agency chose recipients based on their ability to care for the various tree species and their position to use the tree's growth as an outreach tool in their neighborhoods, cities or states. "Together, NASA and the Forest Service will deliver a piece of science history to communities across our nation," said Mike Kincaid, associate administrator of NASA's Office of STEM (science, engineering technology and math) engagement. "Through this partnership, future explorers, scientists and environmentalists will have the opportunity to nurture and be inspired by these Artemis artifacts in the community where they live, work and learn." NASA is notifying the selected institutions in waves, with the first now underway, followed by groups in the fall of this year, spring 2025 and fall 2025. The agency plans to keep a record of the recipients on its website , noting the species of tree they received and their planting cycle. Moon Tree hosts will also be invited to engage with the public at quarterly virtual gatherings beginning this summer. A full list of the first, almost 50 recipients has yet to be made public, but according to a social media post , Mary Chapa Academy in Greenfield, California received a sapling on Thursday (April 25).

— Moon mission's living monuments: Apollo 14's 'Moon Trees' 45 years later

— The 10 greatest images from NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission

— The moon: Everything you need to know about Earth's companion

The idea for the Artemis 1 Moon Trees was grown out of a similar project carried out by Apollo 14 command module pilot Stuart Roosa, who as a former Forest Service smoke jumper launched with hundreds of tree seeds in his personal preference kit on the 1971 moon mission. 

The Apollo Moon Tree seedlings were planted across the U.S., with many becoming part of the country's bicentennial celebration in 1976. 

"A new era of Moon trees will one day stand tall in communities across America," said Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator. "NASA is bringing the spirit of exploration back down to Earth because space belongs to everyone. The Artemis Generation will carry forth these seedlings that will be fertile ground for creativity, inspiration, and discovery for years to come."

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Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com , an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.

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