The date of July 20, 1969 will be marked forever in history. Neil Armstrong did what many thought was impossible and stepped onto the moon, four days after the launch of Apollo 11, the name of the spaceflight that also carried Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
This Wednesday marks the 53rd anniversary of the feat that, for many, was the most impressive of the entire 20th century. Armstrong, after leaving the first footprint on lunar soil, also described the moment as “a small step for man, but a great leap for humanity.”
The moment was one of the first events broadcast on a large scale on television, but the astronauts themselves wanted to record every second of their stay with their own means. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took pictures, filmed, performed a series of programmed experiments, collected samples and even installed scientific instruments on the ground: detectors for earthquakes, meteorite impacts and possible volcanic eruptions.
In the middle, there was still room for a phone call, directly from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The then president of the United States, Richard Nixon, congratulated the astronauts and praised that “the pride that Americans feel on this day is shared by all humanity.”
The Moon, when visited, offered images never seen before, but the Apollo 11 crew also wanted to leave a memory: there was a metal plaque signed by Michael Collins, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Richard Nixon. “Here, the men of the planet Earth stepped on the Moon for the first time in July 1969. We came in peace and for all humanity,” it can be read.
In perpetual tension, with no wind to ripple, the American flag also remained.
The Pacific Ocean was the final destination of the mission. At 12:35 p.m., the command module began re-entering the atmosphere and minutes later docked 825 nautical miles from Honolulu, Hawaii. On the island that welcomed them, the crew of Apollo 11 filled out a declaration from Hawaii Customs and Immigration as a joke. They have to declare 22 kilos of cargo consisting of “moon rocks and moon dust samples”. Whether they have diseases remains “undetermined.”
We had to wait, but after the quarantine, it was time to welcome the heroes who revealed another small part of a great world that remains to be discovered.
Source: TSF
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
