this day in history--1969

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I have climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds,--and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of--wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
my eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew--
And while, with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr., the Pilot Poet


Did you know-- On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched into orbit from Cape Canaveral. The crew aboard that historic spacecraft included Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins. After liftoff, Apollo 11 traveled 240,000 miles in 72 hours, and entered lunar orbit on July 19. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin piloted the lunar module Eagle to the moon's surface, where they landed at the edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong was the astronaut who radioed back to mission control the famous words, "The Eagle has landed." Neil Armstrong was the first to exit the module, making him the first man to set foot on the moon.
Almost everybody knows that Armstrong planted a U.S. flag on the moon, and I'm sure that everybody is familiar with the "One small step..." statement. What you may not be aware of is the fact that Buzz Aldrin became the first man to perform a religious ceremony on the moon when he took part in the Christian celebration of communion. Aldrin had brought with him a tiny communion kit, given to him by his church at home, that contained a silver chalice and wine vial about the size of the tip of his finger. During the morning, he radioed Houston control and said, "I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in their own individual way."
"In the radio blackout", he wrote later, "I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.' I had intended to read my communion passage back to Earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from the book of Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly." He went on in his writing, "I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten here, were the communion elements."