“When you're through with life an all hope is lost, hold out
your hands cos right till the end friends will be friends”
(Freddy Mercury and Jhon Deacon)
On July 20, 1969 humanity achieved one of the greatest technological accomplisment when a man first stepped on the Moon. Everybody was peacefully interested in the three earthmen who travelled to the natural satellite.
Apollo 11 was the spaceship that transported the American astronauts Neil Amstrog, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrins. They set off on July 16 in order to attempt this audacious mission.
As Amstrong put his feet down on the surface of the Moon, he declared his now famous line: “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. The crew performed a variety of experiments on the lunar territory and collected soil samples to return to Earth. They needed to wear special space suits with a back mounted portable life support system to control the oxygen, the temperature and pressure inside the suit.
They hoisted the American flag and unveiled a plaque bearing President's Nixon signature and an engraving reading: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon on July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.”
People all over the world watched the moonlanding on TV. Because of the reduced gravity, the astronauts could jump very high compared to Earth, and those images were very funny!
In Argentina all the inhabitants were concentrated on the heroic deed. Every spectator lived the experience as if they were the protagonists. There was a man among them, Dr Enrique Febbraro, teacher, dentist, philosopher and musician, from Lomas de Zamora.He wrote one thousand letters to one hundred countries after the event. He proposed July 20 as the date when the whole world had been friends of the three astronauts. Since then, 1969, the international Friend's day is celebrated in many countries, such as Spain and Brazil on July 20. Originally, this celebration was born in Argentina.
11 comments:
Hi Susan, very good article. As you mention in the post, it must have been incredible to be the witness of such an event. I mean to be present in that real time. I was told that everybody were absorved in watching the TV. However, many people are skeptics to the arrival of man to the moon, as far as I can, whenever I have time, observe from the internet. There are plenty of forums discussing on whether moon landing was a real thing or was just a fake. In my personal case, I think it was a real event, though sometimes one doubts on the account of very convincing arguements posted by these skeptics. In any case, I suppose that there must be evidence of moon stones or things like that connected to their voyage. Well, congrats, bye.
How interesting this article! I think that having friends is one very important feature of the Argentinian Culture. We love to meet and be together in every occassion and of course we enjoyed it a lot!
Susana I found this article very interesting! I agree with Mariana and I think friendiship is one of the most beautiful thing we can have.
Congrats Susana!! Very interesting article. As Mariana and Jesica P said, friendship is one of the main characteristics that we, Argentinian people, have. We love meeting each other and talk about the old times together.
As regards the fact of the astronauts walking in the Moon, I am not really convinced that this really have happened. But, if so, it is a wonderful job for that men and for humanity.
To be honest,I am not absolutely convinced either.There are and there were many theories that have insisted Apollo 11 moonlanding was a big hoax.It was said in those days that the event was entirely artificial because of the Cold War(1945-1991). Cold War was the continuing state of political tension between The Soviet Union and The United States after the Second World War. They expressed the conflict through the space race to see who could make the furthest advancements into space first. Even though many versions accusated The U.S.A of "selling" infamous and false images from a secret studio set,it was a wonderful show. It is possible that it has been another imperialist lie, but everybody believed those images on that day(July 20 1969) and enjoyed them, the following weeks many doubts started to flourish until these days.
To be honest,I am not absolutely convinced either.There are and there were many theories that have insisted Apollo 11 moonlanding was a big hoax.It was said in those days that the event was entirely artificial because of the Cold War(1945-1991). Cold War was the continuing state of political tension between The Soviet Union and The United States after the Second World War. They expressed the conflict through the space race to see who could make the furthest advancements into space first. Even though many versions accusated The U.S.A of "selling" infamous and false images from a secret studio set,it was a wonderful show. It is possible that it has been another imperialist lie, but everybody believed those images on that day(July 20 1969) and enjoyed them, the following weeks many doubts started to flourish until these days.
For those still not sure about the veracity of the Apollo 11 moon landing, I recommend reading this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Moon_Landing_hoax_conspiracy_theories#Specific_hoax_claims_examined
I like your article, Susana. It is always interesting to know the origin of our celebrations and the Friend's day is a very important one, especially here in Argentina. I think it is not a coincidence that this celebration was born here. We are always trying to find excuses to get together with our friends,jaja. Apart from that, the fact that one of the most important features of our culture is drinking mate shows how important to us is sharing with other people, especially friends.
I agree with Jessica L. In fact, I think that we Argentinian are very proud of having friends. As regards the moon landing, I don't have an opinion about that, it might have been true, but I haven't seen any more moon landings since that one. I don't know maybe it wasn't useful for the Americans and that's why they didn't go again.
I agree with Jesica, it's interesting to know the origin of our celebrations. And the fact that we,Argentinian people, are always trying to find excuses to meet our friends. As regards 'Mate',I think that it's a kind of symbol, which shows the importance of sharing and having another excuse to be with friends. :)
Mariana, you'll find information about the several moon landings here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing#Manned_Moon_landings
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