NASA left a silicon disk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, which is one of the most important and symbolic items taken to the Moon.
Etched on to that disc, about the size of a half US dollar coin, are miniaturised messages of goodwill and peace from 73 heads of state or government around the world. These letters were received by the US space agency NASA only during the final weeks running up to the launch on 16 July 1969, yet this disc helped turn the Apollo 11 mission into an international endeavour.
The disc was a late-breaking idea. It was only in June 1969 that the US State Department authorised NASA to solicit messages of goodwill from world leaders to be flown and left on the Moon. In those days before fax, email and Internet, this triggered a minor diplomatic frenzy. Hurried invitations went out from Thomas O Paine, the NASA Administrator who was ultimately responsible for the lunar missions.
In all, 116 countries were contacted through their embassies in Washington DC, but only 72 responded in time (The United Nations had 127 member states by that time.) With the initiator US, it made up 73 nations. The disc carried statements by US presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, each of who had provided political leadership to the American space programme.
Some countries were confused by NASA’s unusual request. Others asked for more details — without realizing that the window for their inclusion was closing fast. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, was among those countries that did respond. But for unknown and unexplained reasons, Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake declined to send a message to the Moon.
Source: http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/18/how-sri-lanka-missed-the-moon/
Etched on to that disc, about the size of a half US dollar coin, are miniaturised messages of goodwill and peace from 73 heads of state or government around the world. These letters were received by the US space agency NASA only during the final weeks running up to the launch on 16 July 1969, yet this disc helped turn the Apollo 11 mission into an international endeavour.
The disc was a late-breaking idea. It was only in June 1969 that the US State Department authorised NASA to solicit messages of goodwill from world leaders to be flown and left on the Moon. In those days before fax, email and Internet, this triggered a minor diplomatic frenzy. Hurried invitations went out from Thomas O Paine, the NASA Administrator who was ultimately responsible for the lunar missions.
In all, 116 countries were contacted through their embassies in Washington DC, but only 72 responded in time (The United Nations had 127 member states by that time.) With the initiator US, it made up 73 nations. The disc carried statements by US presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, each of who had provided political leadership to the American space programme.
Some countries were confused by NASA’s unusual request. Others asked for more details — without realizing that the window for their inclusion was closing fast. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, was among those countries that did respond. But for unknown and unexplained reasons, Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake declined to send a message to the Moon.
Source: http://www.groundviews.org/2009/07/18/how-sri-lanka-missed-the-moon/
The Rabbit 
