First Man to Walk on the Moon

After World War II ended, a new super power emerged in the world. This super power was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, better known as the Soviet Union. As a result, the United States of America found itself in an undeclared conflict with Russia during which, each of these countries, tried to expand their political, ideological, and economic spheres of influence among the rest of the countries of the world. This conflict is what came to be known as the Cold War, which lasted from 1947 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 11, 1989.
As part of their efforts for world dominance, both the United States of America and the Soviet Union developed programs aimed at conquering outer space. This so called “Space Race” lasted from 1957 to 1975. It started when Russia launched a satellite called Sputnik 1 on October 4th, 1957, continued through the American moon landing with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969, and ended with the joint United States and Russian Apollo-Soyuz mission of 1975.
The “Space Race” was important both for its military applications, and the psychological effect on the morale of the citizens of both countries. This is why, when the United States was loosing the race to Russia during the late fifties and very early sixties, in his speech to Congress on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy promised that the United States would put a man on the moon before the decade was over.
On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center. This mission was manned by three astronauts, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), called: Neil Alden Armstrong, Commander; Major General Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Colonel Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. (Buzz Aldrin), lunar module pilot. The Lunar Module “Eagle” landed on the surface of the Moon, at the Sea of Tranquility on July 20th, 1969. On the next day, July 21st, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon and spoke the historic worlds: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”. The Apollo 11 crew returned to Earth eight days after it’s launch, on July 24, 1969.
Neil Armstrong’s walk on the Moon was the climactic event of the “Space Race”. It demonstrated the capacity of mankind to achieve whichever goal it sets out to reach when it is united behind a common purpose.
There are no limits to mankind’s creativity and inventiveness. Its resourcefulness can solve any problem it may face, specially when all of its components work together in order to solve it. This is the lesson learned from the “Space Race”, which later turned into a cooperative effort between countries of the world, mainly between two previous enemies, the United States of America and Russia, to conquer Space, as evidenced by the ongoing development of the International Space Station. Man’s first walk on the Moon was truly a giant leap in mankind’s evolution towards lasting peace.