Man Reaches the Moon, The Apollo 11 reached the Moon in July, 1969. Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon. Here, we see fellow astronaut Edwin Aldrin saluting the American flag while television cameras rolled. Since the Russians' launching of Sputnik in 1957, space exploration has played an important role in America's stature as a great and advanced society. Source: The First Lunar Landing: 20th Anniversary; as told by the astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Michael Collins (1989).