In 1969, he became the first person to set foot on the Moon, and said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." The Moon landing was part of the Apollo project. Born in Ohio, Armstrong gained his pilot's licence at 16, studied aeronautics at Purdue University, and served as a naval pilot in Korea 1949-52 before joining NASA as a test pilot. He joined the US National Aerospace Program 1962, and commanded Gemini 8 March 1966, linking with an unmanned Agena rocket. With Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins in Apollo 11 on 16 July 1969, he lifted off from Cape Kennedy to land, four days later, on the Moon. They collected soil samples, explored, and set up scientific instruments on the lunar surface.
