when did we go to the moon

Humans first landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969 , during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins orbited above in the command module.

Quick Scoop: When did we go to the Moon?

The key date

• The first time humans set foot on the Moon was July 20, 1969.

• The mission was Apollo 11 , launched by the United States space agency NASA.

• Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface a few hours after landing and was soon joined by Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit.

A tiny timeline of that week

• July 16, 1969 – Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Saturn V rocket.

• July 19–20, 1969 – The spacecraft entered lunar orbit and the Lunar Module Eagle separated to begin the landing.

• July 20, 1969 – Eagle landed on the Moon and humans walked on the lunar surface for the first time.

• July 24, 1969 – The crew returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

Why that moment still matters

• It was the first time humans traveled to another world and walked on it, fulfilling President John F. Kennedy’s earlier challenge to land on the Moon before the end of the 1960s.

• The mission became a global media event, with hundreds of millions watching live TV coverage of the moonwalk.

• Apollo 11 opened the door for later Apollo missions that carried out more landings and science on the Moon in the early 1970s.

In short: when people say “we went to the Moon,” they are usually talking about Apollo 11 in July 1969 , with that historic first landing and moonwalk on July 20, 1969.

TL;DR: We went to the Moon (first human landing) with Apollo 11 in July 1969 , touching down and walking on the surface on July 20, 1969.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.