NASA landed a total of 12 astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. Project Apollo, born off the back of the Mercury and Gemini programmes, initially envisioned 20 Apollo missions. However, due to budgetary concerns and dying public interest in lunar landings, the Apollo programme was cut short. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 became the first manned spaceflight mission to touch down on the Moon.