THIS DAY: On this day in 1969, man first walked on the moon. It’s been 47 years. We’re sure many readers remember that day.
“It’s a little over eight years since the flights of Gagarin and Shepard, followed quickly by President Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon before the decade is out,” reads a NASA description of the moon landing.
“When the lunar module lands at 4:18 p.m. EDT, only 30 seconds of fuel remains. (Neil) Armstrong radios ‘Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.’
“At 10:56 p.m. EDT, Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: ‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’ (Buzz) Aldrin joins him shortly, and offers a simple but powerful description of the lunar surface: ‘magnificent desolation.’ They explore the surface for two and a half hours, collecting samples and taking photographs.
They leave behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. It reads: ‘Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.’”
In the years since, many have claimed the moon landing was faked. Doubters say the U.S. government staged the whole thing, with Armstrong and Aldrin acting out the mission on a film set.
It’s an enduring theory, but to anyone who has seen or touched the moon rocks at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — or who remembers watching the broadcast of Armstrong’s steps — the conspiracy theory has no credence.
The lunar Touch Rock in the Milestones of Flight gallery at the museum is a dense, aphantic basalt. NASA knows it as sample 70215,84, according to the museum’s website.
“At 17.7 pounds, sample 70215 was the largest rock that the Apollo 17 crew brought back. Sample 70215 was found to belong to a group of moon rocks that contain large amounts of titanium and other elements so uncommon that they are considered rare Earth elements. Like all of the other lunar samples, 70215 does not contain water or volatile elements.”
The scientific theory behind it is that the moon formed when a Mars-sized object collided with early earth.
“The dense, fine-grained nature of 70215 suggests that it cooled quickly, probably near the surface of one of these basalt flows about 3.7 billion years ago. Although fairly young by lunar standards, 70215 is the oldest thing many people will ever touch.”
