Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, on 21 July 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission. This was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The US astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969. Early in the morning of 21 July, they descended from the lunar landing module to the surface. They spent 2.5 hours on the surface, deploying instruments, taking photographs and drilling for rock samples. The equipment seen here is the LRRR (Lunar Ranging Retro Reflector, right) and the seismometer (left). This was the only EVA (extravehicular activity) performed on this mission. Aldrin and Armstrong (taking the photograph) returned to lunar orbit later that day, joining Michael Collins in the lunar orbiter.