They told Neil Armstrong and his crew that they'd send them into space and have them dock (not done before), to a spacecraft they had already sent up that was unmanned. The spacecraft held some supplies including the most important, the lunar module. They were told the module would allow them to land on the moon and then return to the spacecraft (not done before and not tested). Once they were back on the spacecraft it would take them from space back to earth. Hardly anything was tested because they couldn't create the conditions the astronauts would experience in space. Add to this that a previous crew had died upon liftoff on one of the missions before Apollo 16.
Can you even imagine how brave these men were? Can you imagine the fear that their wives and children faced knowing the mission was the first of its kind. It's unfortunate that a lot of young people know very little about these brave men and the amazing talent at NASA that got them to the moon and back. The media doesn't want to harp on it because it goes against their narrative against American exceptionalism which they attack President Trump about. Even the movie "First Man," refused to include one of the most iconic moments when the American flag was placed on the moon. They didn't want to offend any other countries. The good news for me, is that the movie did horribly partly because of massive boycotts from conservatives regarding not including the flag. Many liberals didn't boycott because they didn't want the American flag shown. Here's to the brave astronauts, their spouses, and the amazing folks at NASA!