50 years ago, American Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon. The astronaut stepped onto the Moon's surface, in the Sea of Tranquillity, at 02:56 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening he hatch on the Eagle landing craft. Armstrong had earlier reported the lunar module's safe landing at 20:17 GMT with the words: 'Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.'

A total of thirty-two Saturns of all types were launched; with not one failing. Thirteen of these were Vs. With a cluster of five powerful engines in each Saturn V was one of the reat feats of the 20th-century engineering. Inside, the rocket contained three million parts in a labyrinth of fuel lines, pumps, gauges, sensors, circuits and switches - each of which had to function reliably. 

The first manned Saturn V sent the Apollo 8 astronauts into orbit around the Moon in December 1968. After two more missions to test the Lunar Module, in July 1969 a Saturn V launched the crew of Apollo 11 to the first manned landing on the Moon.