How did NASA decide on the crew for Apollo 11?

Brandon Blatcher's answer is perfect so I'd just like to complement it. Deke Slayton, the man who picked the astronauts for each mission, wanted the first man on the moon to be one of the original Mercury 7, the first group of astronauts. read more

So the backup crew of Apollo 7 would fly Apollo 10, Apollo 8's backup crew would fly Apollo 11 and 9's crew would do Apollo 12. Armstrong, Aldrin and James Lovell were originally the backup crew for Apollo 9 and thus supposed to fly on Apollo 12. read more

Apollo 14-CMP Stuart Roosa served as backup CMP on Apollo 16 and 17, then retired from NASA. LMP Edgar Mitchell served as backup LMP on Apollo 16, but only after Slayton made it clear that unless he did backup service after Apollo 14, he would not be flying any missions. read more

Following the tradition set by the crew of Gemini V, the Apollo 11 crew was given the task of designing its mission patch. read more

On Jan. 9, 1969, NASA announced the prime crew of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. This portrait was taken on Jan. 10, the day after the announcement of the crew assignment. From left to right are lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, commander Neil Armstrong; and command module pilot Michael Collins. read more