One Small Disc for Man One Giant Message for Mankind
Welcome back!
Barely a soul alive today in the free world are unaware of the very first moon landing of the Apollo 11 mission on July 20th 1969, when Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot down on the moon declaring his now legendary words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But what most of us don’t know is the message he left behind.
Photo Yazid Masa
Within feet of the first footprint Armstrong made on the moon lies a U.S. flag, a commemorative plaque, and a small white cloth pouch where the message lies. Contained within the pouch are a couple of embroidered emblems, medals a gold olive branch — and a thin metal case bearing a silicon disc about the size of a 50 cent piece. Etched on the disc in letters no larger than one-fourth the width of a human hair are 73 messages from nations across our planet.
The message was all but forgotten until Tahir Rahman, a Kansas-based physician and space history enthusiast revealed the message from the coin in his new book, “We Came In Peace For All Mankind: The Untold Story Of The Apollo 11 Silicon Disc.”
Rahman is a hobbyist who collects Apollo 11 memorabilia, including letters and documents signed by astronaut Neil Armstrong. He recently happened upon a duplicate of the disc left on the moon, became curious about its history and set out to discover the missing story.
“I thought I knew most aspects of the Apollo 11 mission.” Rahman wrote to collectSPACE.com. “When I acquired a disc for my collection, I quickly discovered that only a sentence or two was mentioned about it in space history books.”
After the U.S. State Department decided to plant an American flag on the Moon and before the wording was finalized for the plaque declaring “We came in peace for all mankind,” they authorized NASA to solicit messages of good will from the leaders of the world’s nations to be left on the moon. With only 1 month remaining for the lunar launch, they did not yet know how they would archive the messages.
“I was amazed at how NASA and the State Department rushed to get these messages before launch.” Rahman said. He describes in his book how 116 countries were contacted but only 73 responded in time. Some confused by the request replied, asking for more details without realizing that the window for their inclusion was soon upon them.
The King of Thailand sent a telegram stating, “In view of our total ignorance of this project, ‘We Came In Peace’ … would appreciate any information you can provide concerning NASA’s invitation to send message … number of countries responding … methods of recording and method of deposit on the Moon.”
NASA gave the project for ‘methods of recording and deposit’ to the Sprague Electric Company of North Adams, Massachusetts — an established NASA contractor — for a solution. The contract required a new material and a new invention with a 3 week turnaround.
Sprague devised a technique to inscribe the microscopic messages on a 1.5 inch, 99%-pure silicon disc and delivered a ‘final’ version 1 week prior to lift off. But NASA sent them scrambling once more to add more nations’ notes that were late to arrive. Some included intricate artwork, such as the Vatican’s message by Pope Paul VI. Not visible to the naked eye, the mini masterworks can however be seen by a low-power magnification.
“The first time I looked through a microscope at the disc, I was amazed. There were all these messages in foreign languages in beautiful gold scripts. The message from the Vatican in the center was especially stunning with its gold ornate frame.” said Rahman.
Neil Armstrong, ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Photo Unwiredadventures
Sprague delivered the final disc to NASA merely 5 days before the Saturn V rocket was to take off with Neil Armstrong, ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The disc was encased in a metal compact for protection and placed in a small pouch with other commemorative items that Aldrin would carry in his spacesuit’s sleeve pocket.
Collins orbited the moon as Armstrong and Aldrin landed on its surface on July 20th. They had merely 2 1/2 hours to explore the lunar terrain, collect 50 moon rocks and set up scientific instruments.
Photo Tamim Ad
Armstrong described the surface as being like powdered charcoal, and said the landing craft left a crater about a foot deep.
The historic moments were captured on television cameras installed on the Eagle which Armstrong turned on.
Armstrong spent his first few minutes on the Moon taking photographs and soil samples. Joined by Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, the pair collected data and performed various exercises — including jumping across the landscape — before erecting the Stars and Stripes flag.
They unveiled and read a plaque attached to their lander bearing President Nixon’s signature and an inscription reading, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.”
After filming their experience with a portable television camera the astronauts received an unexpected message from US President Nixon from the White House, further compressing their timeline. Nixon spoke of the pride of the American people and said, “This certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made.”
Photo Cardellialessandro
While climbing up the ladder to re-enter their spacecraft for their return home, Armstrong suddenly remembered the ‘package’ on Aldrin’s arm.
“How about that package out of your sleeve? Get that?” Armstrong called out.
“No,” Aldrin replied, “want it now?”
“Guess so.” Armstrong said, and Aldrin tossed the package — silicon disc tucked inside — down to the Moon’s surface. Armstrong then nudged it with his foot.
“Okay?” Armstrong asked of its placement.
“Okay.” responded Aldrin, which was all the ceremony and attention the disc would ever receive — up to now.
First Moon Landing
The very first moon landing of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969
when Neil Armstrong made history.
Man on the Moon
An incredible collage of clips from boarding and take-off
to landing and return.
Sources: Yahoo News and BBC
Related stories:
Who Owns the Moon & Planets of our Universe?
The Greatest Conspiracy Ever
Lunar Behavior during Full Moons
fake
It was an awe inspiring moment for humankind. We’ll return there again relatively soon too. Of course the chinese will most likely be the next country to make the journey. They plan on getting there in about 15 years.
And don’t you just ponder the immaturity and ignorance of those who believe in the age old conspiracy theories that it was all faked? It must be difficult operating a normal life with such colossal ignorance.
Yes, there appears to be a race of a number of countries Nitropuppy.
I don’t know how anyone can deny its authenticity, really.
its easy to believe it was faked, theres no wind on the moon so how cana flag moove?
Sorry for the late reply Tuomo, I’ve had difficulties in answering comments recently.
In answer to those claiming fake, here is something taken from Windows to the Universe:
The question of whether or not NASA really went to the Moon comes up from time to time, usually with the idea that the U.S. Government wanted to embarrass the Russians by “winning” the Space Race in any way possible. The FOX TV network even did a special show on the subject earlier this year, titled Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? Although some people continue to insist that the Moon landings were faked, the evidence they show to support this view is pretty weak.
People that say that NASA faked the Moon landings say that proof can be found in some of the photos taken by NASA of astronauts on the Moon. They say that there are mistakes in these photos that show that the photos were faked, and therefore the whole Moon landings were probably faked. An example of this so-called “proof” is in the photo at left, in which the American flag appears to be “waving in the breeze” on the surface of the Moon. There is no air, and therefore no wind, on the Moon. Does this mean that the photo is a fake? Absolutely not.
On July 20, 1969, two Apollo 11 astronauts planted an American flag on the surface of the moon. The flag was a standard 3-foot-by-5-foot nylon flag that was altered by sewing a hem along the top. A telescoping crossbar, hinged to the flagpole, was extended through this hem so that when the flag was planted on the Moon, it would stand out instead of hanging limp against the flagpole (as it would normally do, since there is no wind on the Moon). When the flag was planted, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had a little trouble getting the telescoping crossbar to extend to its full length, and so it ended up being a little shorter than it should have been. As a result, the flag was bunched up slightly and looked like it was actually “waving in the breeze.”
I enjoyed reading all the great posts here. Nice blog!
I have met several of the 12 Apollo Moonwalkers, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. It is my hope that the world unites again for mankind’s next great adventure into the heavens.
Tahir Rahman, author of We Came in Peace for all Mankind
i think this is really interesting and i hope to walk on the moon one day…………….if only one day i could walk on
the moon and make my country proud and possibly the whole world………..
my younger sister wants
to know how long it would take to get the moon and back (please give me the answer seperate) eg. to get there—-
to get back—–
thanks a lot x x x x x x x x
Very nice information. Thanks for the time put into the blog you wrote.