On July 20, 1969, at 10:56 p.m. EDT, man took his first step on the moon.

Dozens of AP reporters would build on that to tell almost every conceivable angle of the story, working 24 hours a day from desks at the Space Center in Houston, watching the landing with astronauts' families, and elsewhere.

SPACE CENTER, Houston: Two Americans landed on the moon and explored its surface for some two hours Sunday, planting the first human footprints in its dusty soil.

The first to step on the moon was Armstrong, 38, of Wapakoneta, Ohio. His foot touched the surface at 10:56 p.m. EDT and he remained out for two hours and 14 minutes.

At the end, mission control granted them extra time on the lunar surface.

Armstrong, on the surface, laughed.

Armstrong read from the plaque on the side of Eagle, the spacecraft that had brought them to the surface.

In the lesser gravity of the moon, each of the men, 165 pounders on Earth, weighed something over 25 pounds on the moon.

Armstrong began the rock picking on the lunar surface.

Armstrong surveyed the rocky, rugged scene around him.

In a world where temperatures vary some 500 degrees, from 243 degrees above zero in sunlight, to 279 below in shadow, the men in the spacesuits felt comfortable.

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