1969 - U.S. astronauts achieve the first lunar landing.

Astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag deployed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. The moon landing -- “one giant leap for mankind,” in the words of mission commander Neil Armstrong - fulfilled a pledge made by President John F. Kennedy in May 1961 that the United States would accomplish the goal "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." (© AP Images)