Forty-five years ago on 20 July 1969 at at 9:56:15 PM EST, mankind stepped on the moon for the first time when astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped down from the Lunar Module "Eagle" onto the a flat volcanic plain known as the Mare Tranquillitatus or "Sea of Tranquility". Nineteen minutes later he was joined on the surface by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.
Armstrong and Aldrin became the first members of the world's most exclusive club. They were the first of only twelve men to ever set foot on the moon - the last was in 1972.
Landing astronauts on the moon inspired a generation of scientists and ordinary people to dream that anything was possible. In 2004, the United States announced its intent to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. Funding for this program was cancelled in the 2010 federal budget to the dismay of many including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Today the dream of a child to become an astronaut and walk on the moon is only a dream.
Neil Armstrong died in 2012.
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