The APOLLO program was a part of the NASA Lunar Program, which was a series of space missions conducted by the United States from 1961 to 1972. The APOLLO program was the third human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them back safely to Earth. The APOLLO program achieved its goal of landing the first humans on the Moon on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Edwin 'BUZZ' Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the lunar surface. The APOLLO program also included several other missions, including the first orbital mission around the Moon, the first lunar rover, and the first sample return mission from the Moon.