In all of human history, only 12 people have ever walked on another world. Those twelve astronauts put their feet down on Earth’s closest neighbor – the moon. These men who walked on the moon achieved this great success between the years 1969 and 1972 with NASA’s Apollo 11-17 missions.
Here are the 12 Men Who Walked On the Moon
Jump to astronaut info by clicking each below
- Neil Alden Armstrong – Apollo 11 Commander
- Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin – Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot
- Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. – Apollo 12 Commander
- Alan LaVerne Bean – Apollo 12 Lunar Module Pilot
- Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. – Apollo 14 Commander
- Edgar Dean “Ed” Mitchell – Apollo 14 Lunar Module Pilot
- David Randolph Scott – Apollo 15 Commander
- James Benson “Jim” Irwin – Apollo 15 Lunar Module Pilot
- John Watts Young – Apollo 16 Commander
- Charles Moss “Charlie” Duke Jr. – Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot
- Eugene Andrew Cernan – Apollo 17 Commander
- Harrison Hagan “Jack” Schmitt – Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot
Who Was The First Person To Walk On The Moon?
1. Neil Alden Armstrong — the commander of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission — was the first person to walk on the Moon. Armstrong simultaneously became the first ever of our human species to put a foot down on another world outside of planet Earth. The first man on the Moon walked onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969 at 10:56pm EDT. Armstrong spent a total of 21 hours, 36 minutes on the surface of the Moon. The answer to how many people have walked on the Moon always begins with the first to do it. What a landmark event for human space travel.
What Were the First Words On the Moon?
Neil Armstrong held the honor of being the first human to speak words from the surface of another world. The first words spoken on the Moon by Neil Armstrong were:
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” – Neil Armstrong
* Be sure to check out even more famous astronaut quotes from the Apollo Missions.
Life Events For Neil Armstrong – First Man On The Moon
- Born August 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio
- Obtained student pilot’s license at 16 years old
- Education:
- Flew 78 combat missions in Korean War
- Seventh pilot ever to fly the North American X-15 jet — a critical step in getting to the Apollo Saturn 5 rocket technology. The X-15 still holds the record for the fastest manned flight in the world at 4,520 mph or about 7,200 km/h (Mach 6.7). That’s fast enough to get you from Los Angeles to Lima, Peru in under an hour.
- First spaceflight (1966) – Command pilot of Gemini 8 – the first docking mission in space of two spacecraft. Encountered a critical system error endangering the crew and required a mission abort. Upon surviving the out of control roll, co-pilot Dave Scott (Apollo 15 commander) recalls, “It was my lucky day to be flying with Mr. Neil Armstrong.”
- Backup commander for Apollo 8 mission
- Successfully ejected out of the lunar test vehicle seconds before crash
- Died August 25, 2012
🎓 Purdue University – Bachelor of Science – Aeronautical Engineering
🎓 University of Southern California – Master of Science – Aerospace Engineering
Neil Armstrong Quotes
“I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul. We’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.” — Neil Armstrong
“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.”– Neil Armstrong
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Who Was The Second Man To Walk On The Moon?
2. Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin — the Lunar Module Pilot of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission — was the second human to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Buzz Aldrin – The Second Man On The Moon
- Born January 20, 1930 in Montclair, New Jersey
- Education:
🎓 Montclair High School
🎓 U.S. Military Academy at West Point – B.S. in mechanical engineering
🎓 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Ph.D. Aeronautics and Astronautics
Buzz Aldrin Quotes
“I don’t know why people who have not been on rockets continue to ask, ”You’re not scared?’ No we were not scared.. Until something happens, then it’s time to get scared.”– Buzz Aldrin
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Who Was The Third Person To Walk On The Moon?
3. Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. – the commander of NASA’s Apollo 12 mission — was the third person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Pete Condrad – The Third Man On The Moon
- Born June 2, 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Education:
- Commander of NASA’s Skylab 2 mission – the first manned crew to board Skylab, the first American space station to orbit the Earth
- Died July 8, 1999
🎓 The Haverford School – Expelled from 11th grade after failing classes (largely blamed on a struggle with dyslexia).
🎓 Darrow School – Repeated 11th grade and graduated
🎓 Princeton University – B.S. Aeronautical Engineering
🎓 Naval Air Station Pensacola – Flight Training
🎓 Naval Air Station Corpus Christi – Flight Training
🎓 United States Naval Test Pilot School
Pete Conrad Quotes
“I made the remark when we went over the top, ‘Eureka, Houston, the Earth is really round,’ and when I got back to Houston, I got all this mail from members of the Flat Earth Society telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about.” – Pete Conrad
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Who Was The Fourth Person To Walk On The Moon?
4. Alan LaVern Bean — the Apollo 12 Lunar Module pilot — was the fourth person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Alan Bean – The Fourth Man On The Moon
- Born March 15, 1932 in Wheeler, Texas
- Education:
- Died May 26, 2018 – Obituary Article
🎓 R. L. Paschal High School – Fort Worth, TX
🎓 University of Texas at Austin – B.S. Aeronautical Engineering
🎓 U.S. Naval Test Pilot School
Bean is the only artist to have visited another world. See those paintings at Bean’s online gallery
Alan Bean Quotes:
“Since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather. I’ve not complained about traffic, I’m glad there’s people around… boy we’re lucky to be here. Why do people complain about the Earth? We are living in the Garden of Eden.” – Alan Bean – In The Shadow of the Moon min. 136
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What Happened to Apollo 13?
Next to the Moon should have been the astronauts of NASA’s Apollo 13 mission, but they had a critical mission abort followed by a heroic collaboration to accomplish the safe return to Earth. The Apollo 13 lunar mission, classified as a “successful failure,” continues to make news and inspire feature films.
Who Was On Apollo 13?
James “Jim” Arthur Lovell Jr. – Commander of the Apollo 13 mission
Fred Wallace Haise Jr. – Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 13
John Leonard “Jack” Swigert Jr. – Command Module Pilot of Apollo 13
Swigert would have remained in the Command Module, orbiting the Moon and repositioning the spacecraft while Lovell and Haise would have landed and walked on the Moon.
What about astronaut Ken Mattingly?
The original pick for Apollo 13’s Command Module pilot was Thomas Kenneth “Ken” Mattingly II, but he was pulled from the mission after exposure to Rubella (German Measles). It was Apollo 16 LM pilot Charles Duke, training as backup for Apollo 13, who caught the infection and exposed Mattingly. Duke and Mattingly would both eventually get to the Moon with NASA’s Apollo 16 mission.
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Who Was The Fifth Person To Walk On The Moon?
5. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. — the Commander of NASA’s Apollo 14 mission — was the fifth person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Alan Shepard – The Fifth Man On The Moon
- Born November 18, 1923 in East Derry, New Hampshire
- Education:
- Alan Shepard was the first American ever in space, traveling aboard the Freedom 7 capsule on a 15-minute suborbital flight on May 5, 1961
- Served as Capcom in Mission Control Apollo 13
- On Apollo 14 he became the first person to play golf on the Moon
- Died July 21, 1998
🎓 Pinkerton Academy – graduated high school at age 16
🎓 Admiral Farragut Academy
🎓 United States Naval Academy at Annapolis – Bachelor of Scieice
🎓 Naval Air Station Corpus Christi – Flight Training
🎓 Naval Air Station Pensacola – Advanced Flight Training
🎓 Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island
Alan Shepard Quotes:
“I realized up there that our planet is not infinite. It’s fragile. That may not be obvious to a lot of folks, and it’s tough that people are fighting each other here on Earth instead of trying to get together and live on this planet. We look pretty vulnerable in the darkness of space.” – Alan Shepard, “What Does Moon Flight Mean Now”, The Seattle Times
Nice wide open course! https://t.co/Fgei80SKio
— Pilgrimage (@PilgrimageGo) July 28, 2018
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Who Was The Sixth Person To Walk On The Moon?
6. Edgar Dean “Ed” Mitchell — the Apollo 14 Lunar Module pilot — was the sixth person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Edgar Mitchell – The Sixth Man On The Moon
- Born September 17, 1930 in Hereford, Texas
- Education:
- Died February 4, 2016
🎓 Artesia High School – New Mexico
🎓 Carnegie Mellon University– B.S. Industrial Management
🎓 U.S. Naval Postgraduate School – B.S Aeronautics
🎓 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Doctorate of Science, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Astronaut Edgar Mitchell Quotes:
“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.”― Edgar D. Mitchell
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Who Was The Seventh Person To Walk On The Moon?
7. David Randolph Scott – the Commander of the Apollo 15 mission – was the seventh person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For David Scott – The Seventh Man On The Moon
- Born June 6, 1932 in San Antonio, Texas
- Education:
- Currently resides in Los Angeles, California
🎓 Western High School
🎓 University of Michigan – attended for one year
🎓 United States Military Academy at West Point – Bachelor of Science
🎓 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Master of Science and Engineer (E.A.A.) in Aeronautics and Astronautics
Astronaut David Scott Quotes:
“It truly is an oasis and we don’t take very good care of it. And I think the elevation of that awareness is a real contribution to, you know, saving the Earth if you will.” – Dave Scott – In the Shadow of the Moon, min 135
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Who Was The Eigth Person To Walk On The Moon?
8. James Benson “Jim” Irwin – Apollo 15 Lunar Module pilot – was the eigth person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For James Irwin – The Eigth Man On The Moon
- Born March 17, 1930, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Education:
- Died August 8, 1991
🎓 East High School – Salt Lake City, Utah
🎓 United States Naval Academy – B.S. Naval Science
🎓 University of Michigan – Master of Science, Aeronautical Engineering and Instrumentation Engineering
Astronaut James Irwin Quotes:
“The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man, has to make a man appreciate the creation of God and the love of God.” – James Irwin, The Home Planet by Kevin V. Kelley
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Who Was The Ninth Person To Walk On The Moon?
9. John Watts Young – the Apollo 16 Commander – was the ninth person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For John Young – The Ninth Man On The Moon
- Born September 24, 1930 in San Francisco, California
- Education:
- First person to ever orbit the Moon alone in a spacecraft
- Died January 5, 2018 – NASA Statement
🎓 Orlando High School
🎓 Georgia Institute of Technology – B.S Aeronautical Engineering
Astronaut John Young Quotes:
“NASA is not about the ‘Adventure of Human Space Exploration,’ we are in the deadly serious business of saving the species. All Human Exploration’s bottom line is about preserving our species over the long haul.” – John Young, from his essay, The Big Picture
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Who Was The Tenth Person To Walk On The Moon?
10. Charles Moss “Charlie” Duke Jr. – the Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot – was the 10th person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Charles Duke – The Tenth Man On The Moon
- Born October 3, 1935 in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Education:
- Charlie Duke served as Capcom in Mission Control for Apollo 11. It’s his voice heard saying, “We copy you down Eagle,” when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the famous first-ever human landing on the Moon.
- Currently resides in New Braunfels, Texas.
🎓 Lancaster High School – Lancaster, South Carolina
🎓 Admiral Farragut Academy – class valedictorian
🎓 United States Naval Academy – B.S. Naval Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Master of Science, Aeronautics
Charles Duke Quotes:
“That jewel of Earth was just hung up in the blackness of space. The only people that have seen the whole circle of the earth are the 24 guys that went to the Moon.” – Charles Duke, In The Shadow of the Moon
“We’ve been to the Moon nine times. I mean, why did we fake it nine times if we faked it?” – Charles Duke, In the Shadow of the Moon
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Who Was The Eleventh Person To Walk On The Moon?
11. Eugene Andrew Cernan – the Apollo 17 Commander – was the 11th person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Eugene Cernan – The 11th Man On The Moon
- Born March 14, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois
- Education:
- Died January 16, 2017 – NASA Statement
🎓 Proviso Township High School – Maywood, Illinois
🎓 Purdue University – B.S. Electrical Engineering
🎓 United States Naval Postgraduate School – Master of Science, Aeronautical Engineering
Astronaut Eugene Cernan Quotes:
“The night before I flew, I wrote a letter to Tracy, just in case: To my darling daughter Tracy — Trace, you’re almost too young to understand what it means to have your daddy to go to the moon… I want you to look at the moon because when you are reading this, daddy is almost there.” – Gene Cernan, Last Man on The Moon
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Who Was The Twelth Person To Walk On The Moon?
12. Harrison Hagan “Jack” Schmitt – the Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot – was the 12th person to walk on the Moon.
Life Events For Harrison Schmitt – The 12th Man On The Moon
- Born July 3, 1935 – Santa Rita, New Mexico
- Education:
- First and only trained field geologist, so far, to walk on the Moon and observe it in person.
- Currently resides in Silver City, New Mexico
🎓 Western High School – Silver City, New Mexico
🎓 California Institute of Technology – B.S. Geology
🎓 University of Oslo, Norway
🎓 Harvard University– Ph.D Geology
Astronaut Harrison Schmitt Quotes:
“Working on the Moon is a lot of fun. It’s like walking around on a giant trampoline all the time and you’re just as strong as you were here on Earth but you don’t weight as much. You only weigh one-sixth of what you weigh on the Moon. Even with the suit and the backpack, my total weight was only 61 pounds.” – Harrison Schmitt, The Journeys of Apollo 11, The Conquest of the Moon, min 44
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