Another Giant Leap For Mankind

"That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." - Neil Armstrong

There was a lot of controversy about what Neil Armstrong said as he took that first step on the moon. He wanted to say, "that's one small step for a man", however, he left out the "a" and that changed the meaning of his famous quote. There was considerable debate about the transmission and Neil argued that the "a" was lost in the static.

Something else happened on the moon that NASA did not want the astronauts to share with the world. NASA was afraid that what Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong did would lead to another lawsuit so they asked these two men to turn off their radios as they ate they first meal on the moon. Forty years later, another giant leap for mankind is revealed:

The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life, and knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human history, he felt he should mark the occasion somehow, and he asked his pastor to help him. And so the pastor consecrated a communion wafer and a small vial of communion wine. And Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth's Orbit and on to the surface of the moon.

He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement: "This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." He then ended radio communication and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John, and he took communion. Here is his own account of what happened:

"In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.. Apart from me you can do nothing.'

I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly. I ate the tiny host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility .. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements. And of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on The moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the earth and the moon - and who, in the immortal words of Dante, is Himself the "Love that moves the Sun and Other stars."

What these two men did while their radios were turned off is one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind. Please share this story with your friends and don't forget to share Jesus, even if the world prefers you to keep your transmission silent.