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A small step for man, 45 years later: Relive the moon landing

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Published July 16, 2014, 6:04 p.m. ET

Image #: 8394206 Portrait of the prime crew of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. From left to right they are: Commander, Neil A. Armstrong, Command Module Pilot, Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. On July 20th 1969 at 4:18 PM, EDT the Lunar Module "Eagle" landed in a region of the Moon called the Mare Tranquillitatis, also known as the Sea of Tranquillity. After securing his spacecraft, Armstrong radioed back to earth: "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed". At 10:56 p.m. that same evening and witnessed by a worldwide television audience, Neil Armstrong stepped off the "Eagle's landing pad onto the lunar surface and said: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He became the first human to set foot upon the Moon. MAI/NASA /Landov

Commander Neil A. Armstrong (from left), command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. pose for a portrait before takeoff. NASA

FILE - In this July 16, 1969 file photo provided by NASA, the Saturn V rocket that launched Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on their Apollo 11 moon mission lifts off at Cape Kennedy, Fla. For the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin asked everyone to remember where they were when he and Armstrong became the first humans to step onto another heavenly body, and to share their memories online. (AP Photo/NASA, File)

The Saturn V rocket that launched Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins on their Apollo 11 moon mission lifts off from Cape Kennedy, Florida, on July 16, 1969. AP

Buzz Aldrin gives a sharp look.

Aldrin gives a sharp look. AP

FILE - This July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA shows a view of the Apollo Command Module with astronaut Michael Collins aboard as seen from the Lunar Module. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin in the Lunar Module separated from Apollo 11 to prepare to go to the lunar surface. (AP Photo/NASA, File)

The Apollo command module as seen from the lunar module. AP

FILE - This July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA shows Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface. Apollo 11 astronauts trained on Earth to take individual photographs in succession in order to create a series of frames that could be assembled into panoramic images. This frame from Aldrin's panorama of the Apollo 11 landing site is the only good picture of mission commander Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface. Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. In all, 12 Americans walked on the moon from 1969 to 1972. (AP Photo/NASA, Buzz Aldrin, File)

Aldrin took this panorama of the Apollo 11 lunar module on the moon. AP

FILE - In this July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA, astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. walks on the surface of the moon, with seismogaphic equipment that he just set up. The flag like object on a pole is a solar wind experiment and in the background is the Lunar Landing Module. (AP Photo/NASA, Neil Armstrong, File)

Aldrin sets up seismographic equipment. AP

FILE - In this July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA, a footprint left by one of the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission shows in the soft, powder surface of the moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after blastoff from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on July 16, 1969. (AP Photo/NASA, File)

An astronaut’s footprint on the dusty, powdery lunar surface AP

FILE - In this July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, smiles for a photo inside the Lunar Module while it rested on the lunar surface. Armstrong was first out the lunar module, Eagle, onto the dusty surface of Tranquility Base. (AP Photo/NASA, File)

Neil Armstrong smiles in the lunar module. AP

FILE - In this July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA shows astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. posing for a photograph beside the U.S. flag deployed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Aldrin and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong were the first men to walk on the lunar surface. The trio was launched to the moon by a Saturn V launch vehicle at 9:32 a.m. EDT, July 16, 1969. They departed the moon July 21, 1969. (AP Photo/NASA, Neil Armstrong, File)

Aldrin poses by the American flag. AP

FILE - In this July 20, 1969 file photo provided by NASA shows Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, the first men to land on the moon, plant the U.S. flag on the lunar surface. The family of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, says he has died at age 82. A statement from the family says he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. It doesn't say where he died. Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969. He radioed back to Earth the historic news of "one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. In all, 12 Americans walked on the moon from 1969 to 1972. (AP Photo/NASA)

Take that, USSR: Armstrong and Aldrin plant the US flag on the moon. AP

epa01797779 A NASA handout photo dated 20 July 1969 showing Crater 308 on the moon viewed from orbit. On 20 July 2009 the world marks forty years since the first human set foot on the moon. In 1961, US President John F. Kennedy had a challenge for NASA -- to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The first Apollo missions were spent getting ready for the moon landing. Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 even flew all the way to the moon, around it, and back to Earth. Apollo 11 traveled to the moon and arrived in lunar orbit on 19 July 1969. EPA/NASA/HO EDITORIAL USE ONLY

The moon’s Crater 308 viewed from orbit on July 20, 1969 AP

The day in photos

The day in photos