Apollo 11 takes off
First landing on moon: Apollo 11 (AS-506) - with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., aboard - was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, at 9:32 a.m. EDT July 16, 1969.The Apollo 11 astronauts who became the first men to walk on the Moon, had split over whether to send missions to Mars. July 20 2012, marked as the 43rd anniversary of the first ever moonwalk.