Project Apollo was NASA's program to land astronauts on the Moon, launched by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 with the goal of achieving lunar landing before the decade was out. The first unmanned missions tested the Command, Lunar, and Service modules. The first manned mission, Apollo 1, ended in tragedy when a flash fire killed the crew during a launch rehearsal test. Apollo 7 was the first successful manned Earth-orbital mission. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed the first astronauts on the Moon - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, achieving Kennedy's goal. Over the course of five more successful lunar landings, Apollo brought back 382 kilograms of lunar samples to better understand the Moon. The