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This Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people in history to walk on the Moon. But it’s also the anniversary of the a lesser known event—the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper on the Moon. Here’s are nine things you should know about the first communion service on the Moon. 1. In 1969, Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church, a congregation just outside of Houston, Texas. He told the lead pastor of his church, Dean Woodruff, that he had “been...

When Apollo 11‘s Eagle lunar module landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had to do something hard: Wait. They were scheduled to open the door of their lunar lander and step onto the unknown surface of a completely different world. But for now, their mission ordered them to take a pause before the big event. And so Aldrin spent his time doing something unexpected, something no man had ever attempted before. Alone and overwhelmed by anticipation, he took part in the first Christian sacrament ever performed on the moon—a rite of Christian...

Opinions at odds over President Donald Trump's directive to creative a unique military branch to cover outer space have spilled over into retired astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Mark Kelly are of completely opposite minds on the matter Aldrin tweeted on Friday calling the move, 'one giant leap in the right direction' But Kelly wrote that it was redundant in June, even saying it was 'a dumb idea' Military officials have agreed that space is a 'warfighting domain' where we need to better protect ourselves from enemy threats originating from Earth But they argue the Air Force, which has had domain...

At 87 years old, famed astronaut Buzz Aldrin is still breaking barriers and having a damn good time doing it. The USAF Thunderbirds invited the icon for a ride in their F-16D while they starred in the Melbourne Air & Space Show over the weekend. Aldrin now holds the record of being the oldest person to ever fly with the USAF Flight Demonstration Team. Melbourne is located south of Cape Canaveral—where Buzz blasted off to the moon in a Saturn V rocket in 1969 as part of the pioneering Apollo 11 crew. Just a few years earlier he rocketed into...

United States Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Tweeted an ominous message to the world using his official, verified Twitter Account, then strangely deleted the tweet later.  His words: "We are all in danger.  It is evil itself." and showed a photograph of a pyramid located at the South Pole ...

<p>I have been a proud member of the 109th Airlift Wing since I earned my wings at Undergraduate Pilot training in Feb of 94. Ever since that time I have been flying, exclusively, the LC-130H aircraft. While we have had many a famous and high ranking person on our aircraft and while I have been fortunate to fly several, our unit just got to help out one of America's most amazing and storied heroes, USAF Retired, Colonel Buzz Aldrin!</p>

Pardon me, please, if you’re familiar with this terrific story, but I never knew it: Former astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin celebrated the Lord’s Supper on the moon 44 years ago, on July 20. Aldrin was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church near Houston. According to London’s Daily Mail, a Presbyterian General Assembly gave Aldrin permission to administer communion to himself on the moon, using a small plastic container of wine and some bread.

From the Daily Mail:Revealed: Buzz Aldrin took Holy Communion on the MOON (but NASA kept it secret)Former astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin may have been the second man to walk on the moon, but he was the first – and only – person to celebrate Holy Communion on it. Inside the lunar module just hours before following Neil Armstrong onto the heavenly body in 1969, Aldrin celebrated the Christian sacrament with wafers and a bottle of wine – a fact the U.S. government reportedly refused to make public at the time. The Apollo 11 astronaut’s plan to broadcast the religious...

Bear with me, LI readers – I’m a little bit of a geek, so I find stories like these exciting. It might not be of interest to everyone, but I do think there’s one point about it that will resonate with all of you. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos started Bezos Expeditions (as well as the space exploration venture Blue Origin) out of his “passions for science, engineering, and exploration.” Bezos, like so many others, watched Apollo 11′s launch from his television as a child in 1969. Days prior, the mission began when five F-1 rocket engines fired together in a...

The Apollo-era astronaut says NASA should be working manned Mars missionsThe second man to set foot on the moon wants to see NASA send people further into space than he ever traveled. Buzz Aldrin trashed NASA's plan to bring an asteroid into lunar orbit in a speech, advocating for a Mars colony. Aldrin, who recently published the book "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration," said at the Washington, D.C. Humans to Mars summit Wednesday that President Barack Obama's asteroid mining plan is merely a distraction. "Bringing an asteroid back to Earth? What's that have to do with space...

Apollo 11 capcom and Apollo 16 lunar module pilot Charlie Duke addresses Monte Sano Methodist Church in Alabama, July 22, 2012. Congregants snacked on Moon Pies and Tang before heading into the sanctuary to commemorate Buzz Aldrin's "lunar communion" 43 years ago, Friday [Glenn Baeske/The Huntsville Times]. "It seemed only appropriate that astronaut Charlie Duke - the 10th human to set foot on the moon - was the guest of honor at the church's "Lunar Communion" service Sunday morning. Duke said he didn't have a spiritual experience, per se, during the 20 hours he spent combing the moon's surface.But...

On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin became the second man to set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. That historic moment was over 40 years ago. Today, Aldrin is celebrating another milestone, his 80th birthday. Although the famous Apollo 11 mission was over four decades ago when NASA was in its infancy, Buzz continues to be very vocal in matters of human spaceflight. He is an outspoken critic of spaceflight policy and an expert in communicating all things space to the public.

Today is the 40th anniversary of man’s first steps on the surface of the moon. On July 20, 1969, Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended from the lunar module Eagle, with Armstrong uttering these famous first words: “That’s one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind.” A short while later, Aldrin privately added some words to mark the occasion . . . from the Word. On his website author Eric Metaxas shares Aldrin’s little-known story of taking communion on the moon: “In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread...

One of the most stupendous days in the history of man! And a great day to be proud of what America and Americans can do! A short two minute video with the late Walter Cronkite bringing us the news: [video at site] Restored moonwalk video montage here.It was hard to believe that we were actually watching live television images from the moon: "One small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind." -- Neil Armstrong, July 20, 1969 from Tranquility Base Photo Tribute:It was only later, after the astronauts returned, that we saw these color images: The Apollo 11...

Moonwalkers Defy Gore's Claim That Climate Skeptics Are Akin To Those Who Believe Moon Landing was 'Staged' Friday, July 03, 2009By Marc Morano – Climate Depot Washington, DC – At a House global warming hearing on Capitol Hill on April 24, 2009, former Vice President Al Gore once again compared skeptics of man-made climate fears to “people who still believe that the moon landing was staged on a movie lot in Arizona." Gore appears ignorant that his several years old analogy has been refuted by two of NASA's moonwalkers themselves -- Moonwalker and Award-Winning NASA Astronaut/Geologist Jack Schmitt – who...

We have remained, since our Apollo days, locked in Earth orbit. But five years ago, NASA was tasked with returning to the moon by 2020, rerunning the moon race that we won 40 years ago. Not surprisingly, this new race has failed to ignite the imagination of young Americans -- or their leaders. What we truly need is not more Cold War-style competition but a destination in space that offers great rewards for the risks to achieve it. I believe that destination must be homesteading Mars, the first human colony on another world. By refocusing our space program on Mars...

Q: That would be an area where you’d like to depart from the current course – because in the COTS program, both of the companies receiving NASA money are developing space capsules as well. A: You’re very observant, following my well-chosen words. I’m quite aware that a number of years ago, the Russians had a design that they tested with scale models. We re-engineered and studied it and renamed it the HL-20. … My group of engineers thought it was very, very attractive, and together with Raytheon we were working on a proposal… It really surprised us when the upper...

Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has issued a stark warning that America must invest now in the space agency Nasa, or surrender leadership of space exploration to Russia and China. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Aldrin revealed that he intends to lobby Barack Obama and John McCain, the two US presidential candidates, in an effort to ensure they find sufficient funds for Nasa's goal to establish a permanent base on the Moon and then send a manned mission to Mars.

CHICAGO - The last time Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin saw their Gemini 12 spacecraft together, it was bobbing in the Atlantic Ocean following their 1966 mission. The two astronauts were reunited with the capsule Thursday as part of a new permanent exhibit called “Shoot for the Moon,” at the Adler Planetarium. “This was a good bird. It did its job,” Lovell said of the capsule, which has burn marks on its base from its re-entry into the atmosphere, and a jumble of switches and toggles on its control panel.

This week's successful landing of the space shuttle Discovery was both a technical and emotional relief. The successful mission marks the beginning of a new chapter in our country's space program. NASA has shown it still has the right stuff; now it's our turn as a country to prove again that we have what it takes to support the future of space exploration. We must move forward in upholding NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, which means completing assembly of the international space station and developing the next generation of space exploration vehicles that will take us back to the Moon,...