Who were the first on the moon?
Answer
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
Explanation
The first humans to walk on the Moon were American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. Their colleague Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit aboard the command module Columbia and circled the Moon while the other two descended to the surface aboard the lunar module Eagle.
Neil Alden Armstrong, born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930, was the mission commander. He had been a Navy aviator who flew 78 combat missions in the Korean War, then a civilian test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and NASA, and had previously flown the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. NASA chose Armstrong as commander partly because he was a civilian, fitting the peaceful tone of the mission.
Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr., universally called Buzz Aldrin, was born in Montclair, New Jersey on January 20, 1930, the son of an aeronautics pioneer. He was a West Point graduate and Air Force fighter pilot who had flown 66 combat missions in Korea and held a doctorate in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a thesis on orbital rendezvous techniques that proved essential for Apollo. Aldrin had flown on Gemini 12 in 1966, demonstrating spacewalk procedures.
After landing in the Sea of Tranquility, Armstrong stepped off the ladder at 10:56 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and spoke the words that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. He had said for a man, but the article was lost in radio static. Aldrin followed about 19 minutes later. The two astronauts spent about two hours and 15 minutes on the surface, planted an American flag and a plaque reading we came in peace for all mankind, deployed scientific instruments, and collected lunar samples. They left footprints that, in the airless environment, may last millions of years.
Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, at age 82, after complications from heart surgery. Buzz Aldrin remains a public advocate for space exploration. Michael Collins, born October 31, 1930 in Rome, Italy, died of cancer on April 28, 2021. All three men received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Richard Nixon, and their mission anchored the symbolic high point of the American Cold War effort in space.
Why this matters for your test
USCIS asks who walked on the Moon first because it confirms a basic piece of American historical literacy. Recognizing Armstrong and Aldrin connects applicants to one of the most televised and celebrated achievements in twentieth-century American history.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
