That was the plan, but unfortunately their probe crashed on the moon at the same time Neil and friends were doing their moon walk. The name of the mission was Luna 15.
A few months later though they sent the first remote-controlled rover in history to the moon and got their samples. The basic design of the rover is still being used in Mars, for example.
soviets brought rocks back first via robotic probeEDIT: hold on, having trouble confirming this
That was the plan, but unfortunately their probe crashed on the moon at the same time Neil and friends were doing their moon walk. The name of the mission was Luna 15.
A few months later though they sent the first remote-controlled rover in history to the moon and got their samples. The basic design of the rover is still being used in Mars, for example.