Some interesting trivia is that Neil Armstrong carried a piece of wood from the Wright Brothers original plane (1903) with him on the mission. Left on the moon were pictures of human beings, audio recordings of several different languages and medallions listing the names of the three astronauts who died in Apollo 1 and the two cosmonauts who lost their lives in a similar accident. In addition, the original site for landing proved to be too risky, and the extra flight of the Eagle probe meant that when they landed, they only had 25 seconds of fuel left! If they had run out of fuel, the mission would have been aborted!
Landing on the moon was so spiritually significant to Buzz Aldrin, he later shared the story that he took communion prior to landing. This was later printed in Guidepost in 1970 and in his book Return to Earth (1973). Since they landed on a Sunday, he did so timed with his home church Webster Presbyterian near Houston with a special chalice given for that purpose (this “Church of the Astronauts” still celebrates Lunar Sunday closest to July 20 each year). The self-sacrifice of such a voyage is also illustrated in the fact that many do not know the name of Michael Collins, the astronaut who continued to orbit the moon in the main ship Columbia. Though he never got to step on the moon, and his name has not become famous like Armstrong and Aldrin, without his work “behind the scenes” there would have been no mission and they could not have returned.
Finally, consider this; the amazing amount of scientific research and experimentation, only possible in a nation built on the freedom to invent and explore, allowed the United States to lead the world on such a global mission. It remains part of the mission of America’s Hometown Thanksgiving to give thanks for our nation that recognizes such a right of liberty.