How many people watched the first moon landing?

Reports indicate that some 600 million people watched as Neil Armstrong took the first step on the moon on July 20, 1969. That televised event set a world record that went unbroken until Prince Charles and Lady Diana married in 1981, which drew 750 million viewers.

During the televised moon landing, audiences saw Armstrong's walk, and they also watched Armstrong and Aldrin plant an American flag in the moon's tough surface. The flag didn't stay upright for very long, and the lunar lander's engines knocked it down as the astronauts blasted off. They also saw Aldrin relieve himself through a tube in his spacesuit, though most people likely didn't realize that that was what they were seeing.