Apollo program

The Apollo program (or Project Apollo) was a project by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The goal was to send a human to explore the Moon and bring him home to earth safe. It was started by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The first person to walk on the Moon was Neil Armstrong of Apollo 11 on June 20, 1969.

One reason the program started was that the Soviet Union was the first country to send a person into outer space. Since this was during the Cold War, many in the U.S. thought that the U.S. needed to stay ahead of the USSR in space exploration.

The Apollo program ended in 1972. After that, NASA began to work on the Space Shuttle program, the International Space Station, and many unmanned space exploration projects.