“We came in peace for all mankind”
“We came in peace for all mankind”
When Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of the ‘Eagle’ Lunar Module, he unveiled a plaque on the landing leg to which the ladder was attached, with the inscription: “Here men from planet Earth first set foot on the Moon, July 1969, A. D. We came in peace for all mankind.” The engraved signatures are those of the three Apollo 11 astronauts (Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin) and the then President of the United States, Richard Nixon. The passage ‘in peace for all mankind’ was borrowed from a statement by the US Congress made on the foundation of NASA in 1958: “… it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind.”
