5 Things Apollo 11 Astronauts Left Behind: Including Bags Of Poo. While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stood on the lunar surface themselves, they also left behind several artifacts during the mission.
This week, NASA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of its most important missions in history – Apollo 11.
The mission saw humans set foot on the lunar surface for the first time, paving the way for human exploration beyond our planet.
5 Things Apollo 11 Astronauts Left Behind – Including Bags Of Poo. From commemorative items honouring fallen astronauts to bags of human waste, here are some of the items that were left on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.
1. Part of the ‘Eagle’ lunar module
To reach the lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin had to leave the command module on board a lunar module, called the Eagle.
However, when it was time to leave the moon and head back to the commode module, where Michael Collins was waiting, part of lunar module stayed behind.
The astronauts also left a plaque on the descent stage, reading ‘Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
2. Commemorative items honouring fallen astronauts
Armstrong and Aldrin left several commemorative items on the moon to hour fallen astronauts.
They also left medals for Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, two Russian cosmonauts.
3. Goodwill messages
The Apollo 11 astronauts also left goodwill messages from 73 counties behind on the moon, loaded on a silicon disc.
The disc itself was only slightly bigger than a 50p coin, but was carefully inscribed with the messages microscopically, as well as the members of Congress who signed legislation to make the mission possible, and the names of top NASA officials.
At the centre of the disc were the words ‘From Planet Earth, July 1969.’
4. An American flag
Photos of Buzz Aldrin saluting a US flag on the surface of the moon are now famous around the world.
In these images the flag appears to be waving in the breeze in the photos, despite the fact that the moon has virtually no atmosphere, meaning there’s no wind.
Conspiracy theorists regularly use the image as ‘proof’ that NASA faked the moon landings.
Thankfully, there’s a simple explanation for the flag waving.
NASA explained: “Not every flag needs a breeze – at least not in space. When astronauts were planting the flagpole they rotated it back and forth to better penetrate the lunar soil – anyone who’s set a blunt tent-post will know how this works.
“So of course the flag waved. Unfurling a piece of rolled-up cloth with sore angular momentum will naturally result in waves and ripples – no breeze required.”
5. Bags of poo
Across all of the Apollo missions, NASA left 96 bags of human waste on the moon.
Apollo 11 50th anniversary
-
Apollo 11 timeline -
Armstrong’s agony after ‘giant leap’ -
Armstrong’s son reignites conspiracy -
NASA creates PLAYLIST for moon missions
These bags were left behind by astronauts to help lighten their spacecraft’s load – especially given the number of lunar rocks they had brought on board.
While most of us would probably avoid rifling through 50-year-old poo, recently, scientists have shown interest in revisiting this waste.
An analysis could help to see the effect of time in space on bacteria, including whether radiation leads to mutations.
Source: Mirror
