The Apollo moon project was a massive effort that required significant expenditures, costing $25.4 billion, 11 years, and 3 lives to accomplish.
On July 20, 1969, Neil A. Armstrong made his now famous remarks, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" as he stepped onto the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission. After taking soil samples, photographs, and doing other tasks on the moon, Armstrong and Aldrin rendezvoused with their colleague Michael Collins in lunar orbit for a safe journey back to Earth. There were five more successful lunar landing of Apollo missions, but only a failed one rivaled the first for excitement. All totaled, 12 astronauts walked on the Moon during the Apollo years.