BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Although humans have dreamt of landing on the moon since ancient times, over the past century, that dream has become a reality.
The Soviet Union was the first nation to reach the moon. In 1959, the Luna-Two spacecraft reached the surface of the moon. Although the Soviet Union appeared to hold an early lead, the United States soon caught up and surpassed it.
In 1969, the Apollo-11 carried three American astronauts to the moon, and Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk across its cratery surface, uttering the now famous words: "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Over the next three years, the US conducted five more successful manned landings on the moon, each time bringing more information about the satellite back to earth.
However, in 1972, US astronauts carried out their final moon mission and NASA’s lunar program was closed. In recent years, though, global interest in the moon has risen again. And countries including China, Russia, India and Japan have launched their own space programs aimed at once more exploring the moon.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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