US: The quest which culminated in America's successful moon landing on July 20th, 1969, began in earnest a little over eight years before with a typically emotive call to arms by President John F. Kennedy.
Addressing a special joint session of the US Congress on May 25th, 1961, he said: "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.
"No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
But the United States did achieve its goal and, via the Apollo space programme, bequeathed a legacy of uplifting individual successes, some extraordinary personal sacrifices and photographs that have defined how we see space.
Behind the quest for the Moon was NASA, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, founded in October 1958. The US government was not hugely interested in space exploration - much of the early research was conducted by the US navy and test pilots - but full-scale crisis was created when, on October 4th, 1957, the then Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite.
As NASA puts it now, in the Cold War climate of the time: "This had a 'Pearl Harbor' effect on American public opinion, creating an illusion of a technological gap and provided the impetus for increased spending for aerospace endeavours, technical and scientific educational programmes, and the chartering of new federal agencies to manage air and space research and development."
The US launched its first Earth satellite on January 31st, 1958, and as a direct result of the Sputnik crisis, NASA began operations on October 1, 1958, with 8,000 employees and an annual budget of $100 million.
In 1963, NASA created the Apollo rocket programme with the specific goal of getting a man to the Moon. It began inauspiciously: Apollo 1 blew up on the launch pad with the death of three astronauts. Several other Apollo missions, both manned and unmanned, orbited the Earth, testing equipment and the effects of space travel on the astronauts.
Two more, Apollos 8 and 10, went to the Moon, orbited it and returned to Earth.
On July 16th 1969, Apollo 11 was launched. Four days later, at 4.17 p.m. on July 20th, Apollo 11's Lunar Module - a small craft that descended from the main rocket which continued orbiting the Moon - landed in the Sea of Tranquillity . . . with less that 30 seconds of fuel left.
Six hours later, Neil Armstrong, left the module and, on live television watched by millions, said as he put his foot on the Moon: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
He turned and looked up to see Earth as no one had done before him.
He was joined by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and the two astronauts spent 21 hours on the Moon, returning with 46 pounds of lunar rocks. After their historic walks on the Moon, they successfully docked with Apollo 11's Command Module, Columbia, in which Michael Collins, was patiently orbiting the cold but no longer lifeless Moon.
Further information: http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html and www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ ap11ann/kippsphotos/apollo.html