It's not that well known but American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin didn't set foot on the Moon only minutes after their Lunar Excursion Module nicknamed Eagle touched down on the lunar surface at 4:18 p.m. EDT or 20:18 UTC on July 20, 1969.

The Americans, who belonged to the Apollo 11 mission, waited six hours before Mission Control in Houston gave Armstrong the go signal to become the first human to set foot on the Moon.

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Armstrong, 38, gingerly made his way down the lander's aluminum stairs to plant his left foot on the Moon's surface at the Sea of Tranquility at 10:56 p.m. EDT or 02:56 UTC on July 21. The imprint of his left boot is still embedded on the lunar soil.

So, man first landed on the Moon on July 20 but first set foot on the lunar surface on July 21.

Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of NASA's Apollo program. 

Armstrong's historic fist words on the lunar surface are part of the legends linked to humankind's greatest achievements in the 20^th century but the widely accepted version has one flaw.

His correct first words should read: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

The article "a" after the preposition "for" was pronounced by Armstrong too quickly to be clearly heard in a transmission made 384,000 kilometers away.

A 2006 computer analysis of the original recordings found that Armstrong actually said "a man."

Aldrin followed Armstrong onto the Moon's dusty surface 20 minutes later.

Aldrin's first words were, "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.  A magnificent desolation."

Armstrong remained on the Moon for two hours and 14 minutes. Aldrin's time on the Moon was one hour and 44 minutes.

Together, both men spent 21-1/2 hours on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. Together, they collected 21.5 kilograms of lunar material they returned to Earth.

While Armstrong and Aldrin worked on the surface, the third man in their team, Michael Collins, orbited the Moon in the command module awaiting their return.

Armstrong and Aldrin returned to Eagle at 1:11 a.m. EDT, Monday, to prepare for their rendezvous with the command module named Columbia.

"The hatch is closed and locked," Armstrong reported. These were among the last words of Apollo 11 from the Moon's surface.

The three men of Apollo 11 returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

In all, 12 Americans walked on the Moon from 1969 to 1972.