The Soviet Union launched the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space on April 12, 1961. Within days of the Soviet achievement, President John F. Kennedy asked Vice President Lyndon Johnson to identify a “space program which promises dramatic results in which we could win.” A little over a month later, on May 25, 1961, Kennedy stood before a joint session of Congress and called for human exploration to the Moon.

After four days traveling to the Moon, the Lunar Module Eagle, carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. 

Neil Armstrong exited the spacecraft and became the first human to walk on the moon. As an estimated 650 million people watched, Armstrong proclaimed "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Michael Collins stayed aboard the Command Module Columbia, serving as a communications link and photographing the lunar surface.

On July 20th, across the world, people gathered in front of televisions to watch the moon landing. An estimated 650 million viewers were watching. In the United States, 93% of televisions tuned in to see Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon. 

The day before the launch of Apollo 11, Rev. Ralph Abernathy led a protest to the gates of the Kennedy Space Center. Still reeling from the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Abernathy led the Poor People’s Campaign of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to NASA’s doorstep to draw attention to economic and racial inequality. Abernathy chose to stage this phase of the SCLC’s ongoing protest campaign at the site of the lunar launch because it highlighted how much could be done with a dedicated national effort.

The gallery shows how an extraordinary combination of motivations, resources, and technologies made it possible for humans to walk on the Moon—and how and why we are going back today.