Apollo 11 goodwill disc

아폴로 11호 평화 메시지 원판

A silicon disc the size of a coin, engraved in tiny letters with goodwill messages from the leaders of 73 countries. Beside it they left a small golden olive-branch pin, a sign of peace.

See it on the 3D Moon →

At a glance

Where: Beside Tranquility Base
📅 Landed: 1969-07-21
✉️ Messages: Messages from 73 countries
📏 Size: about 3.8 cm across
Coordinates: 3.60°N 26.80°E
Kind: Hidden finds

The Apollo 11 goodwill disc is a small silicon disc, about 3.8 cm across, roughly the size of a large coin. It carries greetings from the leaders of 73 countries, along with messages from four US presidents, shrunk down so small that you would need a microscope to read them. Buzz Aldrin dropped it on the Moon at Tranquility Base in July 1969.

Its top reads, in English, that these are goodwill messages from around the world brought to the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11. Around the rim are the words From Planet Earth – July 1969. With it the astronauts left a small gold copy of an olive branch, an old symbol of peace that also appears in the eagle's claws on the Apollo 11 badge.

How it was made

NASA's leader, Thomas Paine, asked the US State Department to invite world leaders to send messages, and many countries replied. Each letter was then photographed and shrunk to 1/200 of its size. A company in Massachusetts used a special reduction camera to make a pattern of all the letters, and another company printed that pattern onto a silicon wafer and etched it, the same etching method used to make tiny electronic circuits. The disc travelled in an aluminium case.

What is written on it

Besides the 73 countries, the disc holds statements from Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. It also lists the leaders of the US Congress, the committees that wrote the laws for NASA, and NASA's top managers, past and present. Many of the foreign leaders congratulated the astronauts and also wrote about their hopes for peace. The words are still readable under a microscope.

Left in a hurry

The disc and the olive branch were in a small memorial package together with an Apollo 1 badge and medals honouring two Soviet cosmonauts, Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov. Near the end of the moonwalk, Armstrong reminded Aldrin about the package in his suit pocket, and Aldrin tossed it onto the ground before they climbed back into Eagle. As far as anyone knows, the disc is still sitting in its aluminium case on the Moon.

Fun facts

Each message on the disc was shrunk to 1/200 of its original size.
The rim of the disc says From Planet Earth – July 1969.
The disc was nearly forgotten until Armstrong reminded Aldrin it was in his pocket.
The gold olive branch left beside it matches the one held by the eagle on the Apollo 11 badge.