'One giant leap for mankind': 45 years after Apollo 11

"Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

It is July 20, 1969. Mission Control at NASA's Houston headquarters joins the watching world in a collective sigh of relief. American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have landed on the moon.

It is only the beginning of mankind's greatest adventure.

At 10:56 p.m. EDT, Armstrong becomes the first human to step into another world, uttering one of modern history's most famous proclamations: "That's one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin joins him shortly after, remarking on the lunar landscape's "magnificent desolation." The two spend more than two hours collecting samples and taking photographs, as crewmate Michael Collins pilots the command spacecraft, Columbia, in lunar orbit.

Among the items the crew leaves behind is a plaque that reads: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

Armstrong and Aldrin prepare the lunar module and blast off, returning to Collins and Columbia. They will splash down on July 24, 1969, in the Pacific Ocean. Their mission is complete and their status as national heroes forever sealed.