Astronomy:Apollo 11 goodwill messages

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Short description: Statements left on the Moon in 1969 by the Apollo 11 astronauts

The silicon disc with goodwill messages left on the Moon by Apollo 11 astronauts

The Apollo 11 goodwill messages are statements from leaders of 73 countries around the world on a disc about the size of a 50-cent piece made of silicon that was left on the Moon in 1969 by the Apollo 11 astronauts.

The disc also carried names of the leadership of the Congress, the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for legislation related to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and NASA's top management, including past administrators and deputy administrators.

At the top of the disc is the inscription: "Goodwill messages from around the world brought to the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11." Around the rim is the statement: "From Planet Earth – July 1969". The collected letters were given to the GCA Corp in Burlington MA which used a reduction camera to make a negative photomask containing all the letters plus an inscription around its edge at its final size. This mask was given to Sprague Electric Company of North Adams, Massachusetts which imaged it onto a silicon wafer and etched the pattern into the wafer. NASA head Thomas O. Paine proposed the idea to the U.S. State Department, and corresponded with world leaders to solicit their messages. These were enshrined by being photographed and reduced to 1/200 scale ultra microfiche silicon etching. The disc rests in an aluminum case on the Moon's Sea of Tranquility.[1]

The disc was in a package in Buzz Aldrin's suit shoulder pocket along with some other memorial items. He was reminded about the package by Neil Armstrong while ascending the ladder of the Lunar Module Eagle to finish their EVA. He then dropped it to the surface.[2] Later Houston requested and received confirmation they had placed it.[3]Template:Apollo11series

Countries represented in the messages

State Signed by
 Afghanistan Mohammed Zahir Shah
King of Afghanistan
 Argentina Juan Carlos Onganía
President of Argentina
 Australia John Gorton
Prime Minister of Australia
 Belgium Baudouin I
King of the Belgians
Template:Country data Brazilian military government Artur da Costa e Silva
President of Brazil
 Canada Pierre Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
 Chad François Tombalbaye
President of Chad
 Chile Eduardo Frei Montalva
President of Chile
 Republic of China[lower-alpha 1] Chiang Kai-shek
President of the Republic of China
 Colombia Carlos Lleras Restrepo
President of Colombia
Template:Flagd Congo-Kinshasa Joseph-Desiré Mobutu
President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 Costa Rica José Joaquín Trejos Fernández
President of Costa Rica
 Cyprus Makarios III
President of Cyprus
Template:Country data Dahomey Émile Derlin Zinsou
President of Dahomey
 Denmark Frederik IX
King of Denmark
 Dominican Republic Joaquin Balaguer
President of the Dominican Republic
 Ecuador José María Velasco Ibarra
President of Ecuador
Estonia Estonia[lower-alpha 2] Ernst Jaakson
Consul General of Estonia to the United States
 Ethiopia Haile Selassie I
Emperor of Ethiopia
 Ghana Akwasi Afrifa
Head of state of Ghana
 Greece Georgios Zoitakis
Regent of Greece[lower-alpha 3]
Template:Flagd Guyana Forbes Burnham
Prime Minister of Guyana
 Iceland Kristjan Eldjarn
President of Iceland
 India Indira Gandhi
Prime Minister of India
Template:Country data Pahlavi Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Shah of Iran[4]
 Ireland Éamon de Valera
President of Ireland
 Israel Zalman Shazar
President of Israel
 Italy Giuseppe Saragat
President of Italy
 Ivory Coast Félix Houphouët-Boigny
President of Ivory Coast
 Jamaica Hugh Shearer
Prime Minister of Jamaica
 Japan Eisaku Satō
Prime Minister of Japan
 Kenya Jomo Kenyatta
President of Kenya
 Laos Sisavang Vatthana
King of Laos
Latvia Latvia[lower-alpha 2] Anatols Dinbergs
Ambassador of Latvia to the United States
 Lebanon Charles Helou
President of Lebanon
 Lesotho Leabua Jonathan
Prime Minister of Lesotho
 Liberia William Tubman
President of Liberia
 Madagascar Philibert Tsiranana
President of Madagascar
 Malaysia Unknown; the message is not signed.[lower-alpha 4]
 Maldives Unknown; the message is not signed.[lower-alpha 5]
 Mali Moussa Traoré
President of Mali
Malta Malta Giorgio Borg Olivier
Prime Minister of Malta
Template:Flagd Mauritius Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
Prime Minister of Mauritius
 Mexico Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
President of Mexico
 Morocco Hassan II
King of Morocco
 Netherlands Juliana
Queen of the Netherlands
 New Zealand Keith Holyoake
Prime Minister of New Zealand
 Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle
President of Nicaragua
 Norway Olav V
King of Norway
 Pakistan Yahya Khan
President of Pakistan
 Panama Bolívar Urrutia Parrilla
President of Panama
 Peru Juan Velasco Alvarado
President of Peru
 Philippines Ferdinand Marcos
President of the Philippines
 Poland Jerzy Michałowski (pl)
Ambassador of Poland to the United States
Template:Country data Estado Novo (Portugal) Américo Tomás
President of Portugal
 Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu
President of the State Council of Romania and General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party
 Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor
President of Senegal
Template:Flagd Sierra Leone Siaka Stevens
Prime Minister of Sierra Leone
 South Africa Jacobus Johannes Fouché
State President of South Africa
Template:Country data Third Republic of Korea Park Chung Hee
President of the Republic of Korea
 South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
President of the Republic of Vietnam
 Swaziland Sobhuza II
King of Swaziland
 Thailand Unknown; the message is not signed.[lower-alpha 6]
 Togo Gnassingbé Eyadéma
President of Togo
 Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
 Tunisia Habib Bourguiba
President of Tunisia
 Turkey Cevdet Sunay
President of Turkey
 United Kingdom Elizabeth II
Queen of the United Kingdom[lower-alpha 7]
Template:Country data Upper Volta Sangoulé Lamizana
President of Upper Volta
 Uruguay Jorge Pacheco Areco
President of Uruguay
  Vatican City Pope Paul VI
Sovereign of the Vatican City State
Template:Country data Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito
President of Yugoslavia
 Zambia Kenneth Kaunda
President of Zambia
  1. ↑ The U.S. maintained relations with the Republic of China as "China" instead of the People's Republic of China.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The US government did not recognize the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states.
  3. ↑ Regent for King Constantine II
  4. ↑ Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah was Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Tunku Abdul Rahman was Prime Minister of Malaysia at the time.
  5. ↑ Ibrahim Nasir was President of the Maldives at the time.
  6. ↑ Bhumibol Adulyadej was King of Thailand and Thanom Kittikachorn was Prime Minister of Thailand at the time.
  7. ↑ Also as Queen of Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ceylon, Fiji, the Gambia, Guyana, Jamaica, Malta, Mauritius, New Zealand, Sierra Leone and Trinidad and Tobago. Rhodesia, which unilaterally declared independence in 1965, also considered Elizabeth II as its queen, though it did not enjoy diplomatic recognition as an independent state by the United States.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages". NASA. July 13, 1969. https://history.nasa.gov/ap11-35ann/goodwill/Apollo_11_material.pdf. 
  2. ↑ Jones, Eric M. (November 12, 2017). "Apollo 11 Surface Journal:EASEP Deployment and Closeout". NASA. https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.clsout.html. 
  3. ↑ Jones, Eric M. (October 28, 2017). "Apollo 11 Surface Journal:Trying to Rest". NASA. https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.posteva.html. 
  4. ↑ Rahman, Tahir (2008). We came in peace for all mankind : the untold story of the Apollo 11 silicon disk (1st ed.). Overland Park, Kan.: Leathers Pub.. ISBN 9781585974412. 



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