Mint Stamps Commemorate 50th Anniversary
Of First Lunar Landing
Now you can own an attractive mint sheet honoring the Apollo 11 mission to the moon – the first successful landing on the moon. It'll make a great start or addition to your space stamp collection. Order yours today.
Apollo 11 Mission
When U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong set his left foot down upon the surface of the Moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969, he made what he famously described as, “…one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface and described the scene as “magnificent desolation.”
The landing module landed in a place called “West Crater,” which was scattered with boulders. After the landing, Aldrin requested everyone “…to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.”
Aldrin, who was an elder in his church, then proceeded to receive Communion from a kit prepared for him by his pastor. This was blacked out of the broadcast due to an ongoing lawsuit filed against NASA concerning the crew of the Apollo 8 mission reading from the “Book of Genesis.”
After the landing was completed, the crew began preparations for the Moonwalk. They had originally planned a five-hour sleep period, but they were too excited to sleep.
The Moonwalk wasn’t just symbolic – Armstrong and Aldrin had several tasks to perform. One of them included planting the American flag. They first had to get used to walking around on the Moon. They collected rock and dust samples and set out equipment to transmit readings. They then returned to the landing module and went to sleep.