▲The crew of Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong (left), Michael Collins (center), and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

▲July 16, 1969. Saturn V launches from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex in Florida.

▲Apollo 11 command/service module Columbia in lunar orbit, photographed from the lunar module Eagle.

▲The Apollo 11 lunar module ascent stage, with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin aboard, is photographed from the command and service modules in lunar orbit.

▲Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong pictured inside the lunar module after landing on the surface.

▲Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was the lunar module pilot, and followed Armstrong onto the moon.

▲A mounted slowscan TV camera showing Armstrong as he climbs down the ladder to the surface and into history.

▲Neil Armstrong works at the lunar module in one of the few photos taken of him on the moon from the surface.

▲Buzz Aldrin on the moon salutes the US flag.

▲Buzz Aldrin poses on the Moon, allowing Neil Armstrong to photograph both of them using the visor's reflection.

▲Aldrin next to the Passive Seismic Experiment Package with Eagle in the background.

▲Earth rises above the moon's horizon during the Apollo 11 lunar mission.

▲The iconic image of Buzz Aldrin's bootprint embedded in the lunar surface.

▲On July 24, the command module Columbia splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Pictured, divers assist in retrieving the astronauts.

▲The crew of Apollo 11 in quarantine after returning to Earth are visited by US President Richard Nixon.

▲In August 1969, the three astronauts rode in ticker-tape parades through a number of US cities held to honor their accomplishment. They are pictured in New York.

▲Neil Armstrong receives the first Congressional Space Medal of Honor from US President Jimmy Carter in 1978. Subsequent Apollo mission astronauts Pete Conrad (left) and Frank Borman (second left) look on.

▲President Barack Obama hosts Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong in the White House July 20, 2009.

▲An Apollo 11 emblem, flown into lunar orbit and signed by Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, sold for US$62,500 at the Space History Sale at Bonham's auction house in New York, 2014.

▲In 2017, a moon rock bag used by Neil Armstrong and laced with moon dust sold at auction for US$1 million, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

▲Michael Collins deep in thought before he and his fellow crew members receive the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

▲The three Apollo astronauts and John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, were awarded the medals in 2011.

▲In 2012, the Apollo 11 landing site was photographed from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The images finally put to bed rumors that the landing did not take place.

▲Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012 from complications after heart surgery. His cremated remains were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean.

▲The Apollo 11 command module Columbia on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

▲

Ryan Gosling starred in a film adaptation of 'First Man,' based on Neil Armstrong's official biography.

Sources: (Smithsonian Magazine)

▲

A tiny piece of moon rock is embedded in a stained glass window in Washington National Cathedral.

▲

The landing site.

▲

The returning astronauts in their Biological Isolation Garments aboard the USS Hornet.

▲

On July 20, 1969, a momentous event took place. The Apollo 11 moon landing was one of the greatest moments not only in US history, but in human history. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people in history to step foot on the moon.

Click through the following gallery for a countdown of the events that put the first man on the moon, and the legacy of that historic space mission.