From the Moon straight to Hawaii: what did astronauts leave on the moon?

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Neil Armstrong after stepping foot on Moon soil for the first time in human history. After 55 years of the Apollo 11 mission, not only is the Earth’s satellite still capturing the imagination of scientists, but the stuff left behind by astronauts is still there.

On the sunny morning of July 16th, 1969, a crowd of thousands flooded Cape Canaveral in Florida, anticipating to witness history. At 9:23 a.m. local time, a bright light appeared on the horizon as a rocket began its ascent into the sky.

People on the ground cheered and cried as the three NASA astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins – boarded the rocket for their 8-day mission to be the first humans to step on the Moon’s hostile surface.

Claiming the space first

The giant space rock orbiting the Earth had long captured the attention of world powers. At the time, the Soviet Union and the US joined the race to see which one would claim space first.

In 1957, the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. The United States followed suit by launching several satellites.

In 1961, Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin reached Earth’s orbit to become the first human in space. The US responded by sending the first American into space, Alan Shepard.

Following this success, President John F. Kennedy set the national goal of landing a man on the Moon within the upcoming decade. Just eight years after this decision, three astronauts were already on their way to the Moon.

Enjoying space delicacies

The Apollo astronaut’s vehicle consisted of command and lunar modules, which were meant to undock prior to the lunar landing.

The vehicle protected the astronauts against space hazards such as cosmic radiation, extremes of heat and cold, and micrometeoroids. The spacecraft's Environmental Control and Crew Life Support Systems provided the crew with oxygen, water, and food.

On their way, astronauts enjoyed plastic-packaged and freeze-dried culinary delicacies, such as beef and vegetables, pork with potato scallops, chicken soup, tuna salads, and Canadian bacon and apple sauce, all of which could be brought back into their earthly shape by dispensed hot or cold water.

Some foods, like chicken with rice in a sauce, also flew on the Apollo 11 mission. However, according to the National Air and Space Museum, they remained untouched. For a sweet treat, astronauts ate desserts such as apricots, date cakes, brownies, and chocolate puddings, accompanied by coffee or tea.

Running out of fuel

After three days of travel, the astronauts finally reached the Moon. They then split up: Collins boarded Apollo 11’s command module, the Columbia, remaining in orbit around the Moon, while Armstrong and Aldrin took control of Apollo 11’s lunar module, the Eagle, and began their two-hour descent to the Moon’s surface.

During the final seconds of descent, an alarm went off indicating an unknown error in the system. Neither the astronauts nor ground control had any idea what this error meant. What turned out to be a simple software error caused uncertainty among the crew.

In addition, the spacecraft overshot the predicted landing zone, and Armstrong had to improvise, manually piloting the ship past an area littered with boulders to avoid crashing with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining in the tank. In the midst of eye-blinding dust, the light indicating contact with the surface lit up. The Eagle had landed.

The astronauts successfully landed in a moon crater called the Sea of Tranquility, also known as Mare Tranquillitatis. Italian astronomers had observed and named it back in the 17th century.

First footprints on the lunar soil

On July 20th, 1969, astronauts stepped onto the Moon's soil wearing bulky space suits and boxes of oxygen. While the temperatures on the Moon range from a scorching 120°C during the day to a freezing -130°C at night, the men were equipped with spacesuits made from layers of nylon and Kapton film, which could withstand the cold temperatures of the night in space.

Armstrong became the first human to step on the Moon's surface, uttering the legendary phrase, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” His first step on the Moon engraved a footprint, which is still there, as footprints can last on the lunar soil for millions of years.

Several minutes later, Aldrin joined Armstrong on the lunar surface, describing it as a "beautiful view" and "magnificent desolation." These two astronauts were the first two of a total of 12 human beings to walk on the Moon. The men spent around two hours exploring the Moon, collecting samples of soil and lunar rocks, and dragging back a load of 21 kg.

They left behind a flag and… a lot of garbage

The astronauts took an American flag to the Moon to leave a mark on their mission. There is no wind on the Moon to make the flags flutter, but the astronauts came prepared. The flag was designed with extendable metal poles. This allowed the garment to be unfurled and remain visible.

However, when the astronauts attempted to plant the flag, the lunar ground was so firm that Armstrong could only insert the pole a few inches deep. While it stood for historical pictures, when they later fired the ascent engine to leave the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the control module, the flag fell over.

Upon leaving, Apollo’s astronauts also left behind the tube in which the US flag had been rolled up, the TV camera they'd used to send footage back to Earth, and the tools they'd used to gather the samples and human waste.

During this mission and subsequent Moon landings until the end of the Apollo missions in 1972, all excess weight was normally left lying on the lunar surface.

An estimated 181,000 kilograms of equipment, moon rangers, and bags containing human waste such as feces, vomit, and urine are scattered across the surface of Earth’s satellite.

Later on, astronauts brought many weird things to the Moon, including the ashes of a renowned geologist, art pieces, golf balls, and family photos.

Returning to the 60s and the story of the first lunar pioneers, they successfully ascended, leaving the first human trace in space. Three days later, on July 24th, the capsule carrying the astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii.

However, instead of well-deserved tropical vacations, the astronauts were immediately locked up in quarantine to prevent potential Moon germs from spreading on the Earth's surface.

The Moon is trending again

After Apollo’s missions, the Moon was left alone for a while. However, recently, NASA has once again targeted the Moon. An ongoing Artemis program is planning to bring back humans to the giant space rock.

The program aims to learn how to live and work on another world in preparation for human missions to Mars. To that end, NASA is building a permanent base on the Moon. The agency will also land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.