One day, Aristotle decided to go the moon. He had no reason other than "Why not?". Some of his acquaintances were okay with the idea. Thus, he began the process of putting together a space agency and a means of proving to everyone in real time that he had done it.
Though Aristotle had some familiarity with how human space travel worked, he was not at all an expert, so he needed a staff to actually do things while he supervised the whole project. The ESA (Equestrian Space Agency) was staffed with the best and brightest of all the relevant fields, including many races, though some members of the Equestrian government did try to dissuade Aristotle from both visiting the moon and hiring changelings or griffins. Naturally, the team for the actual mission to the moon included Aristotle, a changeling, and a griffin. Mission control was headed by Twilight Sparkle, who was also organizing the efforts to set up what would later become known as the first television broadcast in the world (well, that world, at any rate). After much hard work putting together a spaceport at Horse Shoe Bay and a spacecraft to go with it, the Apollo 11 mission (This was something Aristotle was particularly insistent on.) was ready to launch.
The Discovery was similar to the Saturn V in design except for some changes to the lunar module to allow all of the team to set foot on the lunar surface, and the fuel system was altered to use the available fuels, magic and more magic. Dr. Twilight Sparkle's thesis (written at the age of 2, no less) had been on the subject of magic as an energy source, which proved serendipitous. The launch was attended by huge crowds of many races, all excited to see what would happen. Spike began the countdown.
Apollo 11 went perfectly. Discovery separated properly, and the lunar module touched the moon's surface about a day later (that moon is close to its planet). Aristotle was the first to step on that ground, and he copied Neil Armstrong, though no one watching the broadcast would have noticed. The team explored the moon for an hour or two before leaving for home, but not before leaving a plaque with text inspired by the original Apollo 11 mission's plaque set on the moon. It was a milestone in history and the first of many exploratory missions. Aristotle and his friends and colleagues would be remembered for that, if nothing else.