10 secrets of NASA's most important mission

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind (...).

-Neil Armstrong

The words of the American astronaut of the Apollo 11 mission, when they put their foot on the moon for the first time, are remembered all over the world. What few know is that it was not the only thing he said. At some point in his conversation with Earth, Armstrong said a phrase that would cause surprise and mystery for several years: "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky." Many wondered what he was talking about and Armstrong did not give in to the pressure when asked about it.

The moon landing of July 20, 1969 has been one of the great feats in the history of man. He made the conquest of space a reality.
secrets of the main nasa

It was not until a quarter of a century later, on July 5, 1995 in Florida during an interview, that he finally broke the secret: as a child, Armstrong played baseball in the backyard of his house when his ball went under. bedroom window of their neighbors, the Gorsky couple. When he addressed her, he heard his neighbor say from inside his home: "Oral sex? Do you want oral sex? You will have oral sex when the neighbor's boy walks by the Moon! "

Therefore, when the good Armstrong was walking on the lunar surface, he remembered that maybe his neighbor was having a good time at home.

secrets of the main nasa footprint

This is one of the dozens of anecdotes and secrets that surround the most important and controversial space program in the history of NASA: the voyages of the Apollo ships to the Moon. Some conspiracy theorists claim that none of these trips took place and that it was all a theater set up by the agency to win the space race to the Russians. The official version says that the missions were carried out from 1968 to 1972, in which a total of 12 men walked on the Moon. Almost 50 years have passed and since then, no one has returned to it. Learn more about this historic event:

Portraits of playmates in checklist books and homework

secrets of the main playmate nasa

We do not know if it was a joke or if the intention was that the astronauts Alan Bean and Pete Conrad had something to entertain themselves with. When they both checked the checklist books they found that on some pages someone had included portraits of Playmates. The girls were smiling and uninhibited. Later they learned that the person responsible for placing them there had been reserve commander Dave Scott. The astronauts took the detail with grace and just laughed.

The first flag was burned

Secrets of the Nasa Flag

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin will be remembered for having placed the first flag of the United States on the Moon. However, hours later, when he and Armstrong climbed the ship to return to Earth, the fire that emerged to propel it burned the flag completely. The following astronauts took the precaution of putting the American standard in a zone far away from the take-off area to prevent its destruction.

Constancy message

secrets of the plate nasa

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on the Moon, they read a plaque signed by them, President Richard Nixon and Michael Collins, command module pilot: "Here the men of the planet Earth set foot on the Moon, July 1969, DC We come in peace in the name of all mankind. "

Unauthorized mental experiments

pot

In the Apollo 14 mission, astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell conducted ESP experiments without the knowledge of his bosses or crewmates. He and a group of doctors from Florida had organized the project, which consisted of the following: during the first hours of sleep of the trips back and forth to the Moon, Mitchell would think of a set of symbols used during this kind of experiments . From Earth, doctors would analyze the possibility that mental messages could travel thousands of kilometers of space distance. Although the results were not convincing, they were published in The Journal of Parapsychology.

A religious ritual on the Moon

Secrets of Nasa Aldrin

Before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin determined that it was time to rise to the lunar surface, the latter made an act of faith in the ship: from a bag he extracted a small piece of bread, poured over it a little wine from a tiny chalice and took Holy Communion. The act meant for Aldrin to transcend beyond technology and machines to make the moment a communion between man and spirit. The words that the astronaut used before the narration were: "I would like to take this opportunity to ask all the people who listen, whoever and wherever they are, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the last hours and give thanks to his way ".

Wet gunpowder

Secrets of Nasa Odor

When the first astronauts to step on the moon returned to their ship, they were struck by the unpleasant smell of the Earth's satellite. The dust of the Moon sitting in their suits had a pungent smell, similar to that of wet gunpowder. Armstrong compared it to the smell of wet ashes from a chimney. In its chemical aspect, gunpowder and the Moon have no relationship, so the cause of the odor of the Moon remains a mystery.

Gastric problems

secrets of the gas nasa

Astronauts from the Apollo 15 mission, Dave Scott and Jim Irwin, had mild heart problems on their return due to a deficiency of potassium in their diet. NASA decided to solve it in the next mission by supplying high doses of orange juice with potassium. Unfortunately, the results were constant flatulence problems for Apollo 16 astronauts, John Young and Charlie Duke. The drawback of this is that the flatulence emit methane gas, which is flammable and dangerous to anyone who is put in a space suit.

Tears on the Moon

Secrets of NASA Alan

Astronaut Alan Shepard was not only the commander of the Apollo 14 mission, but the oldest man to walk the moon when he was 47 years old. He was also the first and perhaps the only one to cry in outer space. What caused that emotional reaction? Years before it was not taken into account for other space missions due to a disorder suffered in his ear. He promised to recover to make his dream come true and he fulfilled it in 1971, when he took his first steps on the lunar surface.

Absurd expenditure
Secrets of NASA Kennedy

Most of the American people considered that using public resources to go to the Moon was a waste. On May 25, 1961, in a speech before Congress, President Kennedy asked: "I believe that this nation must commit to achieving the goal, before the end of the decade, of landing a man on the Moon." A poll issued shortly after this speech showed that 58% of the nation opposed the idea.

Commemorative sculpture
Secrets of the nasa sculpture

The Apollo 15 commander, David Scott, wanted to pay tribute to the astronauts, both Americans and Russians, who died in the space race. For this, he asked the Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck to create a sculpture that would recall the names of the fallen. Van Hoeydonck decided to make a piece that did not refer to any specific race or nationality. On August 1, 1971, the crew of Apollo 15 placed the commemorative plaque with the 14 names of the honorees and the sculpture in the Hadley Canyon, a site in which it remains to this day.