The Apollo programme set out to test soft landings on the moon, photograph the surface, and photograph possible landing sites with a lunar orbiter. American technology overtook the USSR with this programme.

The first six Apollo missions were unmanned:

Launched in 1967, Apollo 7 was the first manned rocket (mission ended in tragedy when a fire broke out and three astronauts died)

Apollo 8 - orbited the moon and returned to Earth; the first manned orbit of the moon

Apollo 9 - practised docking the command module and the lunar module orbiting Earth

Apollo 10 - travelled to the moon to test the lunar module further

Apollo 11 - lands on the part of the moon known as the Sea of Tranquility on 20 July 1969

The US had outstripped the Soviet Union in the space race (victory for capitalism and democracy)

USSR launched Luna XV to try draw attention away from Apollo 11, but it crash landed on the moon