Apollo 11 goodwill messages
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
See also
References
- ↑ "Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages" (PDF). NASA. July 13, 1969. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
- ↑ Regent for King Constantine II
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.