More than 50 years ago, on July 22, 1969, the legendary astronaut became the first man to step foot on the lunar surface during NASA ’s successful Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong and his colleague Buzz Aldrin left Michael Collins in the Lunar Orbiter while the pair descended in the Lunar Module Eagle to the surface, bringing an end to the Space Race. On the 25th anniversary of their huge achievement, Armstrong addressed the White House to reminisce and inspire a new generation.

'Can't tell you about that' Buzz Aldrin's Moon landing secret exposed

He said in 1994: “Fellow astronauts, ladies and gentlemen, Wilbur Wright once noted that the only bird that could talk was the parrot, and he didn’t fly very well, so I’ll be brief.

“This week, America has been recalling the Apollo programme and reliving the memories of those times in which so many of us here were immersed.

“Many Americans were part of Apollo, about one of two in every thousand citizens all across the country.

“They were asked by their country to do the impossible, to envisage the design and to build a method of breaking the bonds of Earth’s gravity and then sail forth to visit another heavenly body.”