RELEASE NO: 69–83F
APOLLO 11 GOODWILL MESSAGES
A small disc carrying statements by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon and messages of goodwill from leaders of 73 countries around the world will be left on the Moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts.
The disc also carries a listing of the leadership of the Congress and a listing of members of the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration legislation. Additionally, the names of NASA's top management, including past Administrators and Deputy Administrators, and the present NASA management are included.
These include NASA's first Administrator, Dr. T. Keith Glennan; its long-time Deputy Administrator, the late Dr. Hugh L. Dryden; former Administrator James E. Webb; and former Deputy Administrator, Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., present Secretary of the Air Force.
Dr. Thomas O Paine is the present NASA Administrator.
The disc, about the size of a 50-cent piece, is made of silicon -- a non-metallic chemical element found abundantly in nature and used widely in modern electronics.
Through a process used to make microminiature electronic circuits, the statements, the messages, and names were etched on the grey-colored disc. Each message was reduced 200 times to a size much smaller than the head of a pin (0.0425 x 0.055 inches) and appears on the disc as a barely visible dot.
NASA's Electronics Research Center at Cambridge, Mass., was assisted by the Sprague Electric Company's Semi-Conductor Division, Worcester, Mass., in preparing the historic disc.
In addition to the disc, Astronauts Neil A . Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., will also leave on the lunar surface an American flag and a plaque inscribed "Here men from the planet Earth/First set foot upon the Moon/July 1969 A.D./We came in peace for all mankind." The plaque will bear the names of Armstrong, Aldrin, the third Apollo astronaut,Michael Collins, and President Nixon, and will be attached to a leg of the descent stage of the lunar module. At the top of the disc is the incription: "Goodwill messages from around the world brought to the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11." Around the rim is the statement: "From Planet Earth -- July 1969."
The messages from foreign leaders congratulate the United States and its astronauts and also express hope for peace to all nations of the world. Some are handwritten, others typed and many are in native language. A highly decorative message from the Vatican is signed by Pope Paul.
Silicon, which first came into general use during World War II in the production of diodes, was chosen to bear the miniaturized messages for its ability to withstand the extreme temperatures of the Moon which range from 250 degrees to minus 280 Fahrenheit.
Because of its purity and stability, silicon is used extensively today in production of tiny integrated circuits by a process that permits hundreds of devices to be formed at one time within the thin silicon disc.
The same process used in making integrated circuits produced the message chip. First, the messages were photographed and the photo reduced 200 times. The resulting image was transferred to glass which was used as a mask through which ultra-violet light was beamed onto a photo-sensitive film on the silicon disc. After a photo-development step, the disc was washed with hydroflouric acid which accomplished the final etching.
The disc itself is fragile and wlll be transported by the astronauts in an aluminum capsule and will remain in the capsule on the lunar surface.
The words on the disc, although not visible to the naked eye, will remain readable through a microscope.
Following are the statements of the four Presidents:
PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENTS
" … The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind … "
National Aeronautics and Space
Act of 1958
Signed by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
July 29, 1958
" … We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free man must fully share. … I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. No single space project in this period will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space: and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. … "
President