In 1969, U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Millions of people watched on television as Armstrong stepped out of his spacecraft and said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil Armstrong was born in 1930 in Ohio. He became interested in airplanes at a young age. After high school, Armstrong became an air cadet in the U.S. Navy. He also studied flight engineering at two universities. In the early 1950’s Armstrong was a pilot in the Korean War.

In 1955 Armstrong joined NASA as a test pilot. Seven years later, NASA chose Armstrong to be an astronaut. On July 16, 1969, Armstrong and 2 fellow astronauts flew to the moon in the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

Four days later, Armstrong became the first person to step out onto the moon’s surface. For more than two hours, Armstrong and another astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, collected samples of moon soil, made measurements, and took photographs before they began their return trip to Earth.

Adapted from “Neil Armstrong”, Britannica Kids, Encyclopædia Britannica. 19 January. 2022. kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Neil-Armstrong/352784