Mcb777 BetWhy was Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon and not Buzz Aldrin and how many times has the moon been landed on? | The Sun - Machibet Live

FIFTY years ago on July 20 Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong took the historic first step on the surface of the moon.

He's stated he was apparently "never" asked his opinion of which of the three astronauts should claim that honour. So how did he become the first man on the moon?

Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew with (from left) mission commander Neil Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin posing in their space suitsCredit: EPA

Why was Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon and not Buzz Aldrin?

Neil Armstrong was training as the backup commander for the Apollo 9 mission a year before his historic mission as Apollo 11 commander.

On July 20, 1969, Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon.

He and lunar lander Eagle pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin walked around the surface for about three hours and carried out experiments.

Michael Collins, the command module pilot, stayed in orbit around the moon during their descent.

Buzz Aldrin, photographed by Neil Armstrong, inside the lunar module on the day of the landingCredit: Reuters

All three were accomplished spaceflight veterans and Apollo experts, says .

Both Aldrin and Armstrong had been Korean War fighter pilots.

Armstrong's pilot experience included flying a fabled X-15 rocket plane to the edge of space – he was calm during any in-flight emergencies.

He flew 78 combat missions for the Navy during the Korean War, and joined the astronaut corps in 1962.

Aldrin had a doctorate in orbital mechanics and was given the moniker "Dr Rendezvous" after he perfected rendezvous techniques carried out by Apollo crews.

Collins later described the three as "amiable strangers" in his memoir Carrying The Fire.

He said that the crew "felt the weight of the world on our shoulders. Everyone was looking. We were worried that we were going to screw something up".

Armstrong, in an interview on 60 Minutes in 2005, said that he didn't "deserve" the celebrity attached to becoming the first man on the moon.

He explained: "I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role."

Collins described Armstrong as a "classy guy" who enjoyed making decisions, "rolling them around on his tongue like a fine wine and swallowing at the very last moment.

"I can't offhand think of a better choice to be the first man on the moon."

Aldrin said that "it was fine with me if it was to be Neil" to step on to the lunar surface first.

US President Richard Nixon welcomes the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the USS Hornet in the Pacific Ocean, July 1969. Confined to the mobile quarantine facility are, from left: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin AldrinCredit: Reuters

How many times has the moon been landed on since July 20, 1969?

Before America's Apollo programme to send humans safely to the moon ended in 1972, a dozen men had visited the moon.

Armstrong and Aldrin led the way, with Armstrong famously saying "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind".

Nasa has been tasked with repeating the remarkable feat by 2024, on the back of a deadline issued by US President Donald Trump.

But, in an about-turn in June, 2019, he criticised the agency for aiming to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024, while urging it to focus instead on "much bigger" initiatives like going to Mars.

China is making progress towards landing astronauts on the moon by the mid-2030s, having landed its Chang'e 4 lander on the far side of the moon in January 2019.

But, according to , as of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, only 12 people, all American, have actually set foot on the moon.