On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission becomes the first spaceflight to successfully place a man on the Moon. Landing saw astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin successfully pilot the lunar lander Eagle safely into the Sea of Tranquility while astronaut Michael Collins remained with the command module Columbia in its orbit around the moon. The two astronauts remained on the surface of the Moon for 21.5 hours, approximately 2.25 hours of which were spent gathering samples, conducting experiments, and placing research equipment on the surface, before departing the surface to rendezvous with Collins and the command module. The men successfully landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 and were picked up the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

The success of the mission effectively ended the Space Race between the USA and the Soviet Union which had begun in 1955 with the race to be the first to place an artificial satellite into orbit. While competition in space exploration continued between the two nations, the following years saw cooperation between the two including the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project of the 1970s. This spirit of cooperation continued into the post-Soviet years with the Shuttle-Mir Program as well as the International Space Station (ISS).

Columbia is currently part of a touring exhibit known as Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission and is currently on display at the St. Louis Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, where it will remain until September 4, 2018, before traveling to the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The module is normally on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.