But curing cancer turned out to be a lot harder than landing on the Moon.
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The footage of the Apollo 11 crew's landing on the Moon is one of 20th Century's most important artefacts.
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And we learn from both that Mr Armstrong's first job on landing on the moon was to grab a rock.
It sounds like something out of a movie, but that's what it came down to as Apollo 11 sped back towards Earth after landing on the moon in 1969.
It was a precision job, like landing on the Moon, as the team lowered into Erte Ale and recorded the first ever 3D laser scan of this remarkable volcano.
The US is not so clear about its intentions right now, but China landing on the Moon later this year and a resurgence of international interest in the Moon could change that.
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However, after more than 40 years in the ocean, the serial numbers are so badly corroded that it may not prove possible to identify specific engines, such as those that lifted Apollo 11 to the first landing on the Moon.
He also worked on the unmanned flights that preceded them, which confirmed a prediction that he had made from his study of lunar craters: contrary to popular belief, an astronaut landing on the moon would not sink into the dust.
Obama's redirection of the agency caused consternation among former astronauts like Neil Armstrong and John Glenn, and even among the President's supporters: Most people think of nasa's job as one of landing on the moon and Mars and exploring other faraway destinations.
President John F Kennedy's speech at Rice University in 1961, which laid down the gauntlet for a landing on the Moon, seemed a daunting challenge at the time, especially when the US had only sent Alan Shepard on a 20-minute sub-orbital flight.
President Kennedy's ambitious goal of landing on the moon was achieved in eight years, by a NASA that was free to soar on a budget that rose to 4.4% of the annual federal budget in 1966, according to noted space historian John Logsdon.
Plans to land astronauts on an asteroid have been mooted and the technology involved in landing astronauts on the moon once again would not require too much adaptation to landing on an NEO.
Particles whipped up by landing rockets on the moon's surface could damage what was left behind by the Apollo missions, ruining its scientific and historic value.
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The Wall Street Journal called it the biological equivalent of landing a man on the moon.
The group has announced seven multi-million-dollar prizes for achievements ranging from landing a robot on the moon to cleaning up an oil spill, and has awarded four prizes.
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Kennedy inspired a whole new generation to service and called for landing a man on the moon.
The gift, which also included a small Alaskan state flag that was flown to the moon with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on the first manned moon landing mission, was one of about 185 such displays that were presented to the states, the United States' territories and to foreign nations.
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China also hopes to make its first moon landing within two years and to put an astronaut on the moon as early as 2025.
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Buzz Aldrin, the pilot on the Apollo 11 moon landing, paid him this tribute in a BBC interview in 2009.
It represents precisely the kind of elevated mindset and ethic that can make the daring American journey our reality, landing us on every moon we might dream up.
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On a lighter note there is also the transcript, audio recordings and video of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
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