Aldrin and Armstrong blasted off from the Moon in the Eagle lander at 17:54 UTC on 21st June, after spending 21 hours and 36 minutes on the lunar surface. They were carrying 22 kilograms of samples, including 50 rocks, fine-grained lunar “soil” and two core tubes that included material from up to 13 centimetres below the Moon’s surface.
They left behind the American flag that they had planted on the Moon, but as it had only been placed about 8 metres from Eagle, it was blown over during the ascent. Future Apollo missions would learn from this mistake, and plant their flags further away.
They also left an Apollo 1 mission patch, as a memorial to the three astronauts who died in a launchpad accident, and two medals awarded to Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, which had been passed to the Apollo 11 crew by American astronaut Frank Borman, after he was given them by the cosmonauts’ widows. And a small silicon disc, containing miniaturised goodwill messages from 73 countries, and the names of congressional and NASA leaders, also stayed behind.
On top of that, they left a golden olive branch, and there’s one on the official mission patch, too. The use of a symbolic olive branch dates back to ancient Greece. In Greek mythology, Poseidon and Athena were vying for possession of Athens. Poseidon walloped the Acropolis with his trident, so that a salt water well sprang forth. Athena planted the first olive tree by the well, and since this was considered the better gift, the city became hers. Olive wreaths were worn by brides, and awarded to Olympic victors.
The Roman poet Virgil associated the olive with the goddess Pax and used the olive branch as a symbol of peace in his work. Pax Romana envoys from the Roman
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