Cold War

Hello. My name is Neil Armstrong. Ever since I was a little boy, I loved to fly. I flew airplanes way up high in the big, blue sky. Zoom. Whoosh. It was so much fun. My country, the United States, wanted to do something new and exciting. We wanted to fly even higher than the airplanes could go. We wanted to go to space. Another country, called the Soviet Union, wanted to go to space, too. It was like a big, friendly contest. A race to see who could explore the stars first. It was a very exciting time for everyone.

To go to space, I had to become an astronaut. An astronaut is a space explorer. It takes a lot of practice to become one. I trained and learned with my good friends. Their names were Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. We were a team, and we always helped each other. We learned how to fly a giant rocket ship. It was called Apollo 11, and it was taller than the tallest building you have ever seen. On a special day, July 16th, 1969, it was time for our big trip. We put on our puffy white space suits, climbed inside our spaceship, and got ready. The big rocket rumbled and shook. Five, four, three, two, one. Blast off. We flew up, up, up, past the fluffy clouds and into the big, dark, starry space. We were on our way to the Moon.

After a few days of floating in our spaceship, we finally arrived. We were at the Moon. Our little landing ship, the Eagle, touched down softly on the gray, dusty ground. I was the very first one to go outside. On July 20th, 1969, I opened the door and climbed carefully down the ladder. My big white boot touched the Moon. It felt soft, like powder. I said some famous words: 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' It meant my little step was a big, important step for everyone in the world. Buzz came out too, and we bounced and hopped around. From the Moon, we could see our home, the Earth. It looked like a beautiful blue and white marble hanging in the sky. Our trip showed that when people work together as a team, they can do wonderful, amazing things.