One million people from across Florida gather around Cape Kennedy to watch the Saturn 5 rocket lift off into space and usher in a "New Age of Civilization" Quoted by Vice President Spiro Agnew watching the launch of Apollo 11. Three soon-to-be-famous heroes take off into the clear afternoon sky. Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. All three blasted off into space while we sat and watched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon for the first time. “In 1959, the Soviet space program took another step forward with the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the Moon. In April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth, traveling aboard the capsule-shaped Vostok 1 spacecraft. For America's attempt to send a man into space, nicknamed Project Mercury, the NASA engineers designed a smaller, cone-shaped capsule much lighter than the Vostok; they tested the craft with chimpanzees and held a final test flight in March 1961 before the Soviets were able to move forward with the Gagarin launch. On May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space (though not in orbit).” The space race, a battle between the United States and the Soviet Union to land on the moon first, was won by the strength of American astronauts and their endurance through tough training. There were multiple purposes and reasons behind space, the United States, and the Soviet Union and multiple reasons for wanting to win the space race. The United States wanted to be the first civilized country to put men on the lunar surface. They also wanted to be ahead of every emerging country. They wanted to be at the front of the space race among all the countries trying to be the last... center of the card... and give them an idea of ​​what to expect. Finally on 16 July 1969, from the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, the three astronauts took off launched by a Saturn V rocket. The space race, the battle between the United States and the Soviet Union to land on the Moon first, was won gives the strength of American astronauts and their endurance during difficult training. The space race was a mixture of a number of different components. Each side had its own backstory and reasons for wanting to win the space race. There was a hard, tough decision about which astronauts would be the first three to land on the Moon, until they finally chose Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. And the intense training of all the astronauts and the immense time spent preparing them for everything that could happen on the Moon and during the descent.