Were Neil Armstrong And Other Astronauts On The Moon Certain To Die During the Apollo 11 Mission? | Why The Death Speech Was Already Prepared

Everyone knows that on July 20, 1969, humans took their steps on the moon for the first time. NASA successfully carried out the Apollo 11 mission by landing its astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon and put the American flag on there.

The journey to the moon began in the year 1959 when the Soviet Union sent its first spacecraft Luna-2 to reach the moon's surface successfully and inspired by this effort of the Soviet Union, American scientists sent Apollo-8 in 1968. In this way, the Soviet Union took the first step towards the exploration of the Moon, but in 1969 the US was successful in landing its astronauts on the Moon from the Apollo 11 spacecraft and since then the journey to the Moon continued. So far, six Apollo missions, including Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17, have been successful in landing humans on the moon and returning them safely to Earth.

The third mission to the moon was Apollo-13 but unfortunately, it could not make its way towards the moon successfully, as the spacecraft's oxygen tanks exploded during flight, allowing the crew to return to Earth without landing on the moon.

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Why The Death Speech Was Already Prepared

July 20, 1969, it was the day when humans set their foot on the Moon for the first time. Neil Armstrong, an American astronaut was the first person who did this feat and Apollo 11 was the first such space flight that landed a human on the moon. But the strange thing is that NASA was not sure whether Neil Armstrong would be able to return to Earth from the moon with his companions. That is why a tribute speech was also prepared, which was to be read by President Richard Nixon. But luckily on 24th July 1969, Neil Armstrong landed safely on earth with his entire team and the tribute speech remained unspoken.

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How a Pen Saved Apollo 11 Mission

Can you imagine that a small felt-tipped pen could save a space mission? The three astronauts who stepped on the moon in the Apollo 11 spacecraft would have either died or they would have remained in space if they did not have this one felt-tipped marker. While the shuttle was landing on the moon’s surface, the circuit breaker’s switch accidentally broke off, which means they accidentally broke the switch that was needed to successfully start their ascent engine to get them off the moon and bring them back to Earth. But Aldrin cleverly fixed the pen in place of the hole where the switch was, Otherwise, the astronauts might still be on the moon. With this, the spacecraft was able to fly again from the surface of the moon.