Apollo 11 goodwill messages

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 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 disc was manufactured by Sprague Electric Company of North Adams, Massachusetts. 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]

Countries represented in the messages

Country Signed By
 Afghanistan HM Mohammed Zahir Shah
King of Afghanistan
 Argentina HE Juan Carlos Onganía
President of Argentina
 Australia Rt. Hon. John Gorton
Prime Minister of Australia
 Belgium HM Baudouin I
King of the Belgians
 Brazil HE Artur da Costa e Silva
President of Brazil
 Canada Rt. Hon. Pierre Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
 Chad HE François Tombalbaye
President of Chad
 Chile HE Eduardo Frei Montalva
President of Chile
 China HE Chiang Kai-shek
President of the Republic of China
 Colombia HE Carlos Lleras Restrepo
President of Colombia
 Congo-Kinshasa HE Joseph-Desiré Mobutu
President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 Costa Rica HE José Joaquín Trejos Fernández
President of Costa Rica
 Cyprus HE Makarios III
President of Cyprus
 Dahomey HE Émile Derlin Zinsou
President of Dahomey
 Denmark HM Frederick IX
King of Denmark
 Dominican Republic President Joaquin Balaguer
 Ecuador President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra
Estonia[n 1] Consul General Ernst Jaakson
 Ethiopia HIM Haile Selassie I
Emperor of Ethiopia
 Ghana Head of state of Ghana Akwasi Afrifa
 Greece Georgios Zoitakis
Regent of Greece[2]
 Guyana Forbes Burnham
Prime Minister of Guyana
 Iceland President Kristjan Eldjarn
 India Indira Gandhi
Prime Minister of India
 Iran HIM Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Shah of Iran[3]
 Ireland President Éamon de Valera
 Israel President Zalman Shazar
 Italy President Giuseppe Saragat
 Ivory Coast President Félix Houphouët-Boigny
 Jamaica Hugh Shearer
Prime Minister of Jamaica
 Japan Eisaku Sato
Prime Minister of Japan
 Kenya President Jomo Kenyatta
 Laos HM Sisavang Vatthana
Latvia[n 1] Counselor Anatols Dinbergs
 Lebanon President Charles Helou
 Lesotho Leabua Jonathan
Prime Minister of Lesotho
 Liberia President William Tubman
 Madagascar President Philibert Tsiranana
 Malaysia HM Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah
Yang di-Pertuan Agong
 Maldives
 Mali President Moussa Traoré
 Malta Giorgio Borg Olivier
Prime Minister of Malta
 Mauritius Seewoosagur Ramgoolam
Prime Minister of Mauritius
 Mexico President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
 Morocco King Hassan II of Morocco
 Netherlands Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
 New Zealand Rt. Hon. Keith Holyoake
Prime Minister of New Zealand
 Nicaragua President Anastasio Somoza Debayle
 Norway Olav V
King of Norway
 Pakistan President Yahya Khan
 Panama President Bolívar Urrutia Parrilla
 Peru President Juan Velasco Alvarado
 Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos
 Poland Ambassador Jerzy Michałowski
 Portugal President Américo Tomás
 Romania President Nicolae Ceaușescu
 Senegal President Léopold Sédar Senghor
 Sierra Leone Siaka Stevens
Prime Minister of Sierra Leone
 South Africa President Jacobus Johannes Fouché
 South Korea President Park Chung-hee
 South Vietnam President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
 Swaziland King Sobhuza II
 Thailand
 Togo President Etienne Eyadema
 Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
 Tunisia President Habib Bourguiba
 Turkey President Cevdet Sunay
 United Kingdom HM Elizabeth II
Queen of the United Kingdom[4]
 United States
 Upper Volta President Sangoulé Lamizana
 Uruguay President Jorge Pacheco Areco
  Vatican City Pope Paul VI
 Yugoslavia President Josip Broz Tito
 Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda
  1. 1 2 At the time, the US government did not recognize the Soviet annexation of the Baltic countries.

See also

References

  1. "Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages" (PDF). NASA. July 13, 1969. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  2. Regent for King Constantine II
  3. 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.
  4. Also Queen of Australia, Queen of Barbados, Queen of Canada, Queen of Ceylon, Queen of the Gambia, Queen of Guyana, Queen of Jamaica, Queen of Malta, Queen of Mauritius, Queen of New Zealand, Queen of Sierra Leone and Queen of Trinidad and Tobago.

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