The 50th Anniversaries of NASA's most historic missions happened within seven months of each other. On December 21st, 1968 Apollo 8 become the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Earth's moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth. Then on July 20, 1969 the Apollo 11 spaceflight landed the first two humans on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle at 20:18 UTC