On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin represented humanity in a historic action: for the first time, man stood on the moon. At that time, the whole world stopped to watch the moment the two astronauts descended. from the Apollo 11 spacecraft to conquer our natural satellite for good (see the video at the top of the story).

The nearly 400, 000 kilometers that separate Earth from the Moon were no problem for astronauts. The outward journey lasted just over three days and since then, much has been said about the mission, from curiosities about the astronauts' passage to the infamous conspiracy theories.

Here at Mega Curious you have already seen many curiosities about the Apollo 11 voyage and later lunar missions, such as some intriguing objects taken to the satellite, the fate of the flags that were left there, and even the recovery of one of the first ship's engines. pose on the moon found in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean last year. Now still on the mission, with 46 just completed, All That Is Interesting listed 18 facts that most people probably didn't know about Armstrong and Aldrin's visit to the moon.

1- Buzz Aldrin, very religious, among other things he did on the moon, read a biblical passage from the book of John and took communion a wafer and a chalice of wine from his church.

2. Aldrin was looking to be the first to do many things on the moon. Well, he was the first man to urinate on the moon. The contents were saved for later discarding.

Buzz Aldrin aboard the Apollo11

3- The Apollo 11 lunar module has been manually landed. The measure had to be taken because the territory where the ship would be parked turned out to be more rocky than expected. Responsible for “touching” the moon safely was Neil Armstrong.

4. The mission's third astronaut, Michael Collins, who stayed on the ship in the orbit of the moon while his companions explored the star, was the author of the mission symbol. The emblem contained an eagle carrying an olive branch in its claws.

Flight controllers celebrate the success of the Apollo 11 mission in NASA's Operations Control Room. In the background, the symbol created by Michael Collins

5. Upon return to Earth, the Apollo 11 mission astronaut trio was quarantined. The measure was taken for security reasons and took three weeks.

The trio of astronauts (from left to right) Michael Collins, Edwin Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong relax in quarantine after successful Apollo 11 mission

6- The Apollo 11 mission was the first to reach the goal of landing on the moon, but it was only the fifth manned mission of the Apollo program.

7- Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours on the moon.

Buzz Aldrin on his visit to the moon

8- The Apollo program had approximately 400, 000 professionals including engineers, technicians and scientists.

9- The three crew astronauts from Apollo 11 autographed hundreds of cards with their images to be auctioned. This action was taken to support Neil Armstrong's family should any unforeseen occurrences or something went wrong during the mission. He was unable to afford life insurance for astronauts.

The trio of astronauts Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin in portrait signed by the 3

10- The mission hardly needed to be aborted. When Amstrong and Aldrin posed on the moon aboard the lunar space module, there was less than a minute of fuel left in the tank. If they had taken a little longer, the objective of landing on the lunar surface would be canceled.

The Apollo 11 team fell overboard on their return to Earth and was rescued by men in biological insulating suits to avoid any risk of possible contamination from contact with astronauts.

11- The event had an audience at the height of its historical dimension: it is estimated that about 600 million people watched Apollo 11 land on the moon, live, on television.

12. The "near" problems didn't just happen when Apollo 11 arrived on the moon. When they took off to get off the satellite, Edwin Aldrin had to have an unusual idea that prevented the failure of the entire mission. He used a felt-tipped pen to activate a broken breaker that was essential for astronauts to break from the moon.

The Eagle module on the moon

13- The command module of the Apollo 11 ship was called Columbia. This item was responsible for housing the astronaut team and loading supplies during the mission.

14- The lunar module had the name of Eagle (eagle). The choice was based on the bird symbol of the United States.

15- "Here, men of Planet Earth first set foot on the moon. July 1969, AD For all mankind, we have come in peace." This was the phrase on a sign left on the moon along with the stars and more than 100 other objects.

The famous portrait of the moon's footprint, symbol of the first time man set foot on the satellite

16. There was an alternate speech prepared by President Richard Nixon for the Apollo 11 mission failure.

17. Michael Collins decided to leave his career as an astronaut as soon as he returned from his mission on the moon. The crew member of Apollo 11 began to try his life in business.

President Nixon Salutes Astronauts Still in Post-Return Quarantine for Success in Apollo 11 Mission

18. The smell on the moon resembles "wet ashes in a fireplace, " according to Aldrin and Armstrong. The description is strange because any smell in space is only apparent as it can never be felt directly.

If you were chosen to man a new mission to the moon, what would you take there? Comment on the Mega Curious Forum