When Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon for the first time, it was called the most important achievement by humans in the twentieth century. The voices of Armstrong and Aldrin inside and outside the Lunar Module indicating their position resonated until these days. This is the anniversary of the takeoff and landing of the spaceflight Apollo 11 on the moon – and also the date the families of the astronauts attended church – perhaps to pray for their loved ones out there in space. The images of the moon landing were broadcasted to at least 600 million people on Earth, despite some technical and weather difficulties.
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One small step for man, one giant leap for tank-kind. While Armstrong and Aldrin worked on the moon, astronaut Michael Collins orbited overhead in their command module, waiting for his crew members to return. Other Apollo missions left garbage bags on the lunar surface, and the Apollo 16 astronauts even tossed one overboard on their trip back to Earth, sending off an accumulation of urine bags, peaches, and other junk with a fond “bye bye, bag!” The first two went on to explore the moon’s surface, implanted the USA flag and collected some samples of the moon’s soil. “July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind”. That thankfully didn’t happen 46 years ago today, but in 1969 President Richard Nixon and his staff had to prepare to that grim possibility, which is why they had a speech written for if Armstrong and Aldrin had been stranded in outer space.
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Did you watch the Moon landings?
