The first landing of a man on the Moon was a project led by Neil Armstrong.
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon . Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin , both American , landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20 , 1969 , at 20:18 UTC . Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island , Florida , on July 16 , and was the fifth manned mission of NASA 's Apollo program . Neil Alden Armstrong ( August 5 , 1930 -- August 25 , 2012 ) was an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon .