Hello,
Except sending a human being and putting his flag on the moon. In fact, the Russians were the first to reach the moon; however, they did it only with a robot. They were the real pioneers of the space age, but because of historical and political factors, their merits have never been sufficiently recognized. In that sense, the USA is recognised as the first to land on the moon on July 20, 1969; the two men of the mission also had to come back to Earth safely.