On this day in 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first person to ever set foot on the moon.

Armstrong was the commander of Apollo 11, where he was joined by Buzz Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins. Armstrong was 38 at the time.

Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon at 8:17 pm on July 20, 1969 - less than a minute before they would have run out of fuel.

After taking time to test the lunar surface for safety, Armstrong took man's first step on the moon - with 600 million people watching on live television back on Earth.

As his foot first made contact with the moon, Armstrong uttered the historic quote: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

(What he meant to say was that's one small step for a man, but the article was not heard in the recording. When Armstrong saw the transcript, he said he felt that he was misquoted. Without the article, the quote is something of a contradiction, but that has not compromised its historical significance.)

In a 2005 interview, Armstrong described the moon as an interesting place to be. I recommend it.

According to an account in Armstrong's official biography - First Man - he was chosen to be the first crewmember to step on the moon, in part because NASA didn't consider him to have a big ego. But in a 60 Minutes interview in 2005, Armstrong insisted that is was purely circumstantial.

That wasn't planned by anyone, he said.

Armstrong is notoriously protective of his name and image. He stopped signing autographs in 1994, after learning that they were being sold for large amount of money. He declined MTV's request to use his historical quote to accompany their logo in 1981 (the footage itself is public domain). And in 1995, after learning that his longtime barber had sold his hair for $3,000, Armstrong demanded the barber donate the same amount to charity.

After Apollo 11's historic mission, Armstrong taught engineering at the University of Cincinatti for eight years. He has been able to retire on income he made by serving a numerous corporate boards.

Although he was courted by both the Republican and Democratic parties to run for political office, he declined.

Armstrong maintains an enthusiastic interest in the space program - he testified at 2010's House Science and Technology committee hearing on Review of the Proposed NASA Human Space Flight Plan, and has indicated his regret that it has not gone as far as he might have imagined when he was a young astronaut.

Still, if a manned mission to Mars takes place in his lifetime, Armstrong would like to be considered - although he feels that he has had more than his fair share of time in the spotlight.

I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, Armstrong once said, but for the ledger of our daily work.

Apollo 11 crew
pollo 11 astronauts (L-R) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edward "Buzz Aldrin pose in this undated file photo. Reuters
Armstrong practicing
ILE PHOTO 19 JUL 69 - Neil A. Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 Moon-landing Mission, practices for the historic event in a lunar module simulation before the launch in this June 1969 file photo. Armstrong now lives on a farm in Ohio, has an unlisted phone number and shuns the many celebrations of the day when he stepped onto the lunar surface. Reuters
Liftoff
The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifted off with Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E."Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., aboard at 9:32 a.m. EDT, July 16, 1969, from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A Reuters
Buzz Aldrin
Astronaut Edwin F. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, faces the camera as he walks on the Moon during Apollo 11 extra vehicular activity in this file photograph. The plexiglass of his helmet reflects back the scene in front of him, such as the Lunar Module and Astronaut Neil Armstrong, taking his picture. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Reuters
Flag
This NASA file image shows U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 Mission Commander, standing next to the Lunar Module "Eagle" on the moon July 20, 1969 Reuters
First Flight Celebration
U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, addresses the crowd at the First Flight Centennial celebrations in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, December 16, 2003. Armstrong was recognized as one of 100 aviation heroes from the past century. Reuters
Langley Award
Former Astronaut Neil Armstrong accepts the Samuel P. Langley award from U.S. Vice President Al Gore at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, July 20. The astronauts of Apollo 11, Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, received medals for pioneering flight, 30 years to the day after human beings first walked on the moon. Gore praised Armstrong and Aldrin, who walked on the lunar surface, and Collins, who orbited the moon, as heroes who brought Americans together at a time of great division, including the aftermath of the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Reuters
NASA Moon NASA NASA