 July 16th on his date back in 1969, Apollo 11 lifted off from NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And four days later, two of its astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first humans to set foot on the moon. 1979, Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq and his brutal rule, which lasted 24 years, was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars with neighboring countries as well as atrocities against the Iraqi people.