In 1969, a long-cherished desire of humankind was fulfilled. The first human stepped on the moon. The historic flight of Apollo 11 started on 16th July 1969 with M. Collins, N.A. Armstrong and E.E. Aldrin. 

When the craft reached the lunar orbit, Armstrong and Aldrin got into the lunar module, which was undocked from the command and service module.  Collins remained in lunar orbit and piloted the command module. 

The lunar module landed on July 20th at the edge of the Mare Tranquillitatis and, in the early hours of the next day, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon. His first words were: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".

Together with Aldrin, he collected 21 kilograms of lunar stones, took numerous photographs and carried out experiments. The lift-off from the moon, the subsequent docking with the command and service module, the boarding of the main capsule and the return flight all took place without any complications. 

On July 24th, the spaceship landed in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. The next lunar landing flight started on November 14th,1969, the Apollo 12 mission. Once again, information was collected, and parts of the space_probe Surveyor 3 that had been in place there since 1967 for experiments were dismantled. Apollo 12 was used mainly to improve the control systems for an accurate landing, as Apollo 13 was supposed to land in a craggy part of the lunar surface. 

When it was launched in 1970, there was a leak in the oxygen tank, among other things, so that the lunar landing had to be given up and the spacecraft returned. Apollo 14 took over the tasks of Apollo 13. Its lunar module landed in the Fra-Mauro area. The oldest stones were supposed to be located there. 

An electrically operated all-wheel lunar automobile was carried for the first time by Apollo 15 on July 26th, 1971. It then became possible to research the area around the mountain called Mount Hadley. It belongs to one of the highest mountain ranges on the moon and contains stones from the time the moon was first created 4.5 million years ago. 

A 15-minute space-walk was taken up on the return flight. Apollo 16 carried out further lunar research. The Apollo missions ended on December 19th,1972.