A few minutes before 10pm Houston time on 20 July 1969, TV stations across the world interrupt their programming to bring historic news.

The words ‘live from the Moon’ flash across the screen and the picture flickers to reveal a metal ladder against a dusty monochrome landscape. A boot comes into view as an astronaut tentatively finds his footing. Then he jumps out of the frame.

The camera slowly swivels to pan across a magnificently desolate view of rubble, ridges and craters.

The astronaut’s voice is indistinct as he bounces a few metres away from the lander and we see him remove a flag from a pocket in the leg of his spacesuit. It is attached to a folded frame, which he clips together and plants in the lunar soil.

Stepping back, the first man on the Moon salutes. The hammer and sickle appears to ruffle in the vacuum.