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The Apollo 11 goodwill messages are statements from leaders of 73 countries around the world on a disc about the size of a 50-cent piece made of silicon that was left on the Moon in 1969 by the Apollo 11 astronauts.

The disc also carried names of the leadership of the Congress, the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for legislation related to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and NASA's top management, including past administrators and deputy administrators.

At the top of the disc is the inscription: "Goodwill messages from around the world brought to the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11." Around the rim is the statement: "From Planet Earth – July 1969". The collected letters were given to the GCA Corp in Burlington MA which used a reduction camera to make a negative photomask containing all the letters plus an inscription around its edge at its final size. This mask was given to Sprague Electric Company of North Adams, Massachusetts which imaged it onto a silicon wafer and etched the pattern into the wafer. NASA head Thomas O. Paine proposed the idea to the U.S. State Department, and corresponded with world leaders to solicit their messages. These were enshrined by being photographed and reduced to 1/200 scale ultra microfiche silicon etching. The disc rests in an aluminum case on the Moon's Sea of Tranquility.

The disc was in a package in Buzz Aldrin's suit shoulder pocket along with some other memorial items. He was reminded about the package by Neil Armstrong while ascending the ladder of the Lunar Module Eagle to finish their EVA. He then dropped it to the surface. Later Houston requested and received confirmation they had placed it.

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Apollo 11
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Countries represented in the messages

1. The U.S. maintained relations with the Republic of China as "China" instead of the People's Republic of China.
2. ^ The US government did not recognize the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states.
3. Regent for King Constantine II
4. Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah was Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Tunku Abdul Rahman was Prime Minister of Malaysia at the time.
5. Ibrahim Nasir was President of the Maldives at the time.
6. Bhumibol Adulyadej was King of Thailand and Thanom Kittikachorn was Prime Minister of Thailand at the time.
7. Also as Queen of Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ceylon, Fiji, the Gambia, Guyana, Jamaica, Malta, Mauritius, New Zealand, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone and Trinidad and Tobago.

See also

• List of time capsules
• Lunar plaque
• List of artificial objects on the Moon

References

1. "Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages" (PDF). NASA. July 13, 1969. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
2. Jones, Eric M. (November 12, 2017). "Apollo 11 Surface Journal:EASEP Deployment and Closeout". NASA. Event occurs at 111:36:38. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
3. Jones, Eric M. (October 28, 2017). "Apollo 11 Surface Journal:Trying to Rest". NASA. Event occurs at 114:52:28. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
4. Rahman, Tahir (2008). We came in peace for all mankind : the untold story of the Apollo 11 silicon disk (1st ed.). Overland Park, Kan.: Leathers Pub. ISBN 9781585974412.

External links

• Goodwill Messages at NASA
• Lunar Litter: A short film about things left behind on crewed Moon missions, includes the goodwill message disc

v t e Apollo program
List of missions canceled missions List of Apollo astronauts
Launch complexes	Launch Complex 34 Launch Complex 37 Launch Complex 39 A B
Ground facilities	Mission Control Center Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Crawler-transporter Kennedy Space Center Manned Space Flight Network
Launch vehicles	Little Joe II Saturn Saturn I Saturn IB Saturn V
Spacecraft and rover	Apollo spacecraft Command and Service Module Lunar Module Lunar Roving Vehicle
Flights	Uncrewed AS-101 AS-102 AS-201 AS-202 Apollo 4 Apollo 5 Apollo 6 Crewed Apollo 1 Apollo 7 Apollo 8 Apollo 9 Apollo 10 Apollo 11 Apollo 12 Apollo 13 Apollo 14 Apollo 15 Apollo 16 Apollo 17 Saturn development Saturn-Apollo 1 SA-2 SA-3 SA-4 SA-5 AS-203 Apollo 4 Apollo 6 Abort tests QTV Pad Abort Test-1 A-001 A-002 A-003 Pad Abort Test-2 A-004 Pegasus flights AS-103 AS-104 AS-105
Apollo 8 specific	Earthrise Genesis reading
Apollo 11 specific	Command Module Columbia Lunar Module Eagle Tranquility Base Double crater Little West crater Goodwill messages Lunar sample displays Missing tapes Anniversaries 50th Anniversary commemorative coins In popular culture
Apollo 12 specific	Statio Cognitum Surveyor 3 Surveyor crater Bench Crater meteorite J002E3 Moon Museum Reports of Streptococcus mitis on the Moon
Apollo 13 specific	"Houston, we've had a problem"
Apollo 14 specific	Modular Equipment Transporter Fra Mauro formation Big Bertha Moon tree
Apollo 15 specific	Journey Lunar operations Solo operations Return to Earth Hadley–Apennine Fallen Astronaut Genesis Rock Great Scott Hadley Rille meteorite Seatbelt basalt Postal covers incident
Apollo 16 specific	Big Muley
Apollo 17 specific	The Blue Marble Taurus–Littrow Tracy's Rock Nansen-Apollo crater Shorty crater Lunar sample display Lunar basalt 70017 Troctolite 76535 Apollo Lunar Sounder Experiment Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey
Post-Apollo capsule use	Skylab 2 3 4 Apollo–Soyuz
Related	Lunar orbit rendezvous Stolen and missing Moon rocks Third-party evidence for Apollo Moon landings
Symbol indicates failure or partial failure

v t e Apollo program hardware
Launch vehicles	Little Joe II Saturn I Saturn IB Saturn V
Launch vehicle components	F-1 engine J-2 engine Instrument unit Launch Vehicle Digital Computer
Spacecraft	Apollo Apollo command module Columbia Apollo service module Apollo Lunar Module Eagle
Spacecraft components	Apollo Abort Guidance System Apollo Docking Mechanism Apollo Guidance Computer Lunar Sounder Experiment Primary guidance, navigation, and control system Apollo Telescope Mount Apollo TV camera Descent propulsion system Ascent propulsion system Scimitar antenna
Space suits	Apollo/Skylab A7L Beta cloth Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment
Lunar surface equipment	Portable Life Support System Lunar Roving Vehicle Lunar Laser Ranging experiment list of retroreflectors Solar Wind Composition Experiment Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package Active Seismic Experiment Apollo 12 Passive Seismic Experiment Apollo 14 Passive Seismic Experiment Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites Experiment Solar Wind Spectrometer Experiment Modular Equipment Transporter Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment Lunar Surface Gravimeter Lunar Surface Magnetometer Lunar Traverse Gravimeter Cold Cathode Gauge Experiment Heat Flow Experiment Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment
Ground support	Mobile Launcher Launch Umbilical Tower Crawler-transporter Lunar Landing Research Vehicle Mobile quarantine facility
Ceremonial	Lunar plaque Lunar Flag Assembly Fallen Astronaut Apollo 11 goodwill messages
Related	Lunar escape systems Rendezvous Docking Simulator Moon Museum
Category:Apollo program hardware

• Apollo 11
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