Moon landing 40th anniversary - News In pictures

40 years hence... From left, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Major General Michael Collins, pose for a portrait in front of a lunar module device at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington on July 19, 2009.

Forty years ago on July 20, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to descend on the lunar surface. That moon landing in 1969, was the first of just six times that any human being has visited the Earth's nearest celestial neighbour, and it has been more than 30 years since any person has been there. (AP photo)


Flag on the moon: US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin deploy the US flag on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969 during the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. (AFP file photo)

In the decades since Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first touched the surface of the moon in the Eagle lander, the moment has become one of the iconic images of the 20th century.

And as Armstrong became the first person to step onto the moon, he uttered the following words: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."

In this file photo, the Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle is seen lifting off with astronauts Neil A Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E Aldrin aboard on July 16, 1969 on the first manned voyage to Moon. During the final summer of 1960s, the voyage of Apollo 11 brought an entire globe together to look up at a full moon and watch. (AFP photo)




This NASA handout picture taken on July 20, 1969 shows one of the first steps taken on the Moon. This is an image of Buzz Aldrin's bootprint from the Apollo 11 mission. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969. (AFP photo)



This picture taken on July 20, 1969 shows astronaut Edwin E Aldrin Jr, walking on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module "Eagle" during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity. During the eight-day mission, Neil Armstrong and Aldrin gathered samples of lunar material and deployed scientific experiments before joining Collins for the return trip to Earth. (AFP file photo)