Apollo 11 facts
While investigating facts about Apollo 11, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Jeff Bezos funded a team that searched the Atlantic Ocean for discarded NASA rockets. By 2013, the team salvaged two rockets. After careful inspection, the team realized they found part of the rockets used to carry Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon on Apollo 11.
The astronauts of Apollo 11 couldn't get life insurance, so they signed photos that their families could auction in case the landing went wrong
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Apollo 11 I managed to collect.
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When Professor Robert Goddard proposed using rockets to send men to the moon the New York Times ran a scathing editorial questioning his credentials, his chair at Clark College and intelligence. In response to Apollo 11 they printed one of the most famous retractions in history.
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The American flag deployed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission was inserted only seven inches deep and was placed about 27 feet from the Eagle landing craft. As a result, it was blown over by the blast of the rocket exhaust during the takeoff back to Earth.
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Immediately after landing on the moon, the Apollo 11 crew was supposed to sleep for 5 hours. They didn't, because they figured they wouldn't be able to.
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NASA accidentally auctioned off for just $995 a bag that was used by Apollo 11 astronauts to collect the first lunar sample. When the buyer sent the bag to NASA for verification, the space agency realized its mistake and refused to return it.
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For the Apollo 11 moon landing conspiracy theory to be true, over 400,000 people would need to be part of the secret.
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For the Apollo 11 moon landing conspiracy theory to be true, over 400,000 people would need to be part of the secret.
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When Robert Goddard,scientist who created the first liquid fueled rocket,published his work in 1919, he was ridiculed for his belief man could reach the moon.The New York Times even mocked his understanding of basic physics.They later published a correction the day after the launch of Apollo 11
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During his Presidency Richard Nixon established the EPA & OSHA, ended the Vietnam War, signed into law the Clean Air Act, desegregated southern schools, presided over Apollo 11 lunar landings, opened diplomatic relations with communist China, and initiated a detente with the Soviet Union
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When the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, they left behind a white pouch containing a silicon disc slightly bigger than a silver dollar. Inscribed in microscopic font on the disc are 73 messages, each from a different country, expressing wishes of goodwill and peace.
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Neil Armstrong before leaving for the Apollo 11 Space mission signed hundreds of autographs and had them dropped in the mail on the exact date of their moon mission, in case he died during the mission and his family could monetize his autographs.
Apollo 11 data charts
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What is true about apollo 11?
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The drink mix Tang wasn't created by or for NASA. It was introduced in 1957 but sold poorly until the U.S. space agency used it for John Glenn's 1962 Mercury mission. Tang was then marketed as what the astronauts drank, but Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin later said, "Tang sucks."
The astronauts aboard Apollo 11 couldn't afford the life insurance policy for an astronaut, so they hatched an alternate plan. Prior to their mission, the three signed hundreds of autographs while under quarantine for their families to sell if anything were to happen to them. - source
The flag erected on the Moon during the Apollo 11 landing was purchased at a local Sears store for US$5.50. - source
When Apollo 11 landed, it had only about 25 seconds of fuel left.
Baseball player Gaylord Perry's manager once remarked that "They'll put a man on the moon before he hits a home run.". On July 20, 1969, just an hour after the Apollo 11 spacecraft carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, Perry hit the first home run of his career - source
There is only one photo of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission but his back is to the camera, rendering it unusable & as a result, all of the widely circulated/most iconic photos of an Apollo 11 astronaut on the moon are actually of Buzz Aldrin.
Preventing an abort of the Apollo 11 mission has been attributed to the work of Margaret Hamilton, the lead flight software designer for Project Apollo. She was 31 when the lunar module landed on the moon, running her code, and is credited for coining the term “software engineering.”
When America's first rocket scientist, Robert Goddard, theorized that rockets could reach the moon, the New York Times harshly criticized him and wrote that he "lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." 49 years later, Apollo 11 succeeded and the NYT published a retraction.
When Apollo 11 landed on the moon, it only had about 25 seconds of fuel left.
After returning to Earth, the Apollo 11 crew was still required to complete a US customs form for entry into Hawaii.
Thad Roberts, a former intern at NASA, who served a 6 year sentence in a federal prison after having sex with his girlfriend on a bed full of stolen moon rocks gathered from the Apollo 11 moon landing mission
