‘That’s One Small Step For Man, …’ [Video]

It was 45 years ago today. At 10:56 p.m., as over a billion people watched on TV, the first human landed on the moon: Neil Armstrong, a Purdue University graduate born in Ohio.

Some have argued Apollo 11's moon landing on July 20, 1969, was all a hoax, and others think it was one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind.

However you see it, what is the lasting legacy of the moon landing?

The U.S. won the Cold War. There was no way a backward country like the Soviet Union would ever be able to put a man on the moon and bring him home. Hell, they couldn't even build cars or refrigerators, let alone get anything other than a dog home safe from space. President John F. Kennedy made this one of the nation's top priorities, and it worked.

Armstrong made it history, with his epic quote: "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."

Buzz Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface that night.

Sure, for the next 20 years or so there was always the threat. But they knew they couldn't compete, and WE knew they couldn't either. Had they been able to, they would have been there right after or right before we did.

If it WAS a hoax, why didn't THEY do it as well? We have the manufacturing know how, but we aren't the only ones who can make a good fake moon landing movie.

For the official story, here's The Associated Press' version of the event. "AP WAS THERE: MAN WALKS ON THE MOON"