The Miracle of the First Moon Landing – Moon Day

“This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” – Neil Armstrong

Celebrating the first men on the Moon, Moon Day set out to celebrate the achievements of mankind and the advance of technology

1. Unknown to most people, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong – the first two people to step on the moon, were accompanied by a third person during their mission to the moon – Michael Collins, who did not step out of the Apollo 11, but played a vital part during the journey.
2. A close call for the Apollos 11 astronauts, a Soviet probe – Luna 15, crashed into the surface of the moon while Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were still exploring its surface. The two crafts were just 740 miles apart.
3. The moon landing is known to have created a huge influence around the world, politically, technological, philosophically and religiously. They sky was no longer the limit. The creator of television Philo T. Farnsworth, was known to have hated his invention, until he saw the moon landing broadcasted on it in 1969.  
4. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space was paid a tribute by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who left his cosmonaut medal on the moon’ surface where it lies till date.
5. Armstrong and Aldrin almost died due to a faulty switch, which prevented them from blasting off into lunar orbit. A pen jammed into the broken switch by Aldrin saved them.
6. Lunar dust smells like gunpowder – an observation made by the astronauts. Till the first landing – it was not known if lunar dust had any smell or the specific components of it. After their first walk on the moon, the astronauts carried some dust on their shoes into the spaceship and for the first time, the dust reacted with oxygen. On reacting with oxygen after 4 billion years, the crew noticed that the dust smelt like gunpowder. However moon dust and gunpowder have no similar components. What could be the possibility then?
7. The Eagle landed back on Earth with only 23 seconds of fuel left. Any delay in the landing could have lead to serious catastrophe to either the spaceship or the people and areas surrounded it’s landing area.
8. Space projects need to be analysed and planned very critically, with every second, every measure of distance etc being of utmost importance. Any wrong step can lead to the entire mission failing. Luckily for the Apollo 11, the journey to and back from the moon was riddled with mishaps, but they survived. When the Apollo 11’s Eagle Lunar Lander was separating from the CSM Colombia there was a loud pop. This was because a cabin in the Lander had not been fully decompressed before separation. This minor fault actually pushed the ship four miles off from where it was originally supposed to land.

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