Neil Armstrong’s Historic Moon Landing Celebrated 52 Years Later

Mercury Seven astronauts memorial at Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 7, 2023. (JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES)

“We did it. We actually put people on the surface of the moon.”

Those were the words from former Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell, who was just one of millions of people around the globe who watched in awe as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. Upon setting foot on another world, Armstrong uttered a phrase that would be etched in history: “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”