It orbited the earth and then the moon.

A lunar module with two astronauts was brought down safely onto the moon, and they got out and walked around.

Some experiments were set up and a US flag was put in the ground.

The astronauts took lots of photos.

All this could be seen live on TV and was watched by perhaps 600 million people.

It is remembered today as a great moment of history.

Only twelve years before then, the Americans were given a shock when the Soviet Union became the first country to launch a satellite into space.

The next day, 21 July, the astronauts left the moon in the lunar module and returned to the spacecraft.

Three days later Apollo XI was pulled out of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

Since then many more spaceships have been launched, and more astronauts have walked on the moon, but the excitement of that first landing has never been repeated.

Perhaps more attention will be given to the space adventure in the future, when astronauts land on Mars.