On this day in 1969, the famous Apollo 11 mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, soaring 238,857 miles to the moon.

Four days later, with Michael Collins orbiting above in the command module, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history by landing on the moon’s surface.

As millions on Earth watched spellbound on live television, Armstrong, followed by Aldrin, stepped down the ladder onto the powdery Sea of Tranquility.

The world listened in as President Nixon placed a long-distance call to the moon. “Because of what you have done,” he praised, “the heavens become a part of man's world.”

Apollo 11 did not fail. The astronauts collected photographs and valuable data about gravitational forces in space. They returned with lunar rocks that continue to influence the scientific world.

According to California geology professor Lee Silver, the samples “taught us more about the first third of solar system history than anything we’d learned from the earth itself. The moon turned out to be our most profound source of cosmic insight.”