msnbc Originals, 7/19/14, 8:11 PM ET

After Apollo: Why haven't we been back to the moon?

On July 20, 1969, the world stopped to watch humans step foot on the moon’s surface for the first time. On the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11, looks at those monumental moments, why the Apollo program stopped, and what the moon’s future could be.

“One small step for man”… 45 years later


President Obama celebrated the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11’s successful moon landing mission with members of the historic crew.

Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong’s widow, Carol Armstrong, met briefly with the President in the Oval Office Tuesday morning.

“The three brave astronauts…took the first small steps of our giant leap into the future,” President Obama said in a statement. “They and their families have served as testaments to ingenuity and human achievement.”

On July 20th, 1969, Apollo 11 became the first successful mission to the moon. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins’ voyage was the result of almost a decade of engineering and scientific work.

Barack Obama
Photo by J. Scott Applewhite



"One small step for man"... 45 years later