Who landed on the moon first?

If you are talking about man-made objects landing on the moon, then the Russians beat the US to it by crashing Luna-2 into the moon on September 13, 1959.

If you are talking about manned lunar missions, then the US 'won' by landing two astronauts on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969.

As others mentioned above, the USSR was the first country to hit the Moon with a manmade object, or soft-land an object there. But the US is the only country that's ever landed astronauts on the surface, or even send people beyond Earth orbit.

Alexis, let's not be jingoistic about the name. "The United States", "The United States of America", "the US", or "the USA" is a better term for our country than "America"--that can refer to any part of either North or South America.

And Raymond, why lecture her on the full name of the USA? I'm sure she's well aware of its full name, but doesn't feel like typing it out all the time. Neither do I, for that matter.

I guess that they don't teach any history in school anymore - such a shame.

The ONLY people to step on the moon were 12 American astronauts with the NASA space agency.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the 1st two astronauts on the moon (Apollo 11 mission, July 20 1969).

A total of 10 other astronauts on 5 additional missions (the last was in 1972) walked on the moon.

Landing an object = The Soviet Union (Russia continued with the Soviet program)

First impact in 1959 (probe destroyed by impact)

first landing in 1966 (it was a 'hard landing' but the probe still worked after crashing)

Landing a human being = USA (July 1968)

"United States of America" is the full name of the country.

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America is not the name of a country, but of a grouping of continents.

The name of the country is United States of America.

The "America" part is needed to distinguish it from the United States of Mexico or United Mexican States (depending on how one translates Estados Unidos Mexicanos).

The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on September 13, 1959

Neil Armstrong is the first man. Thats all i know

Neither, it was America.

Neil Armstrong was the first human to set foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, part of the American space program.

Addendum: Raymond - "America is not the name of a country, but of a grouping of continents.

The name of the country is United States of America."

No, America is the name of the country north of Mexico and south of Canada. North America and South America are continents. They are sometimes collectively referred to as "the Americas", but when someone talks about "America", they're talking about the country. I've never in my life heard someone refer to the North and South American landmass as "America".

"United States" is a descriptor. Mexico is also called "United States", but "Mexico" is still the name of the country. Likewise, the name of China is "China", even though, like America, it has a descriptor: "People's Republic".

But "People's Republic" is not the name of China, nor is it even *part* of the name of China.