Illinois lunar sample displays Illinois lunar sample displays The Illinois lunar sample displays are two commemorative plaques consisting of small fragments of moon specimen brought back with the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 lunar missions and given in the 1970s to the people of Illinois by United States President Richard Nixon as goodwill gifts. The Illinois Apollo 11 lunar sample display commemorative plaque consists of four "moon rock" rice-size particle specimens that were collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 and a small Illinois state flag that was taken to the moon and back on Apollo 11. The four
Buzz Aldrin should. I have always said that Buzz was the far more photogenic of the crew." Aldrin entered "Eagle" first. With some difficulty they lifted film and two sample boxes containing of lunar surface material to the hatch using a flat cable pulley device. Armstrong reminded Aldrin of a bag of memorial items in his sleeve pocket, and Aldrin tossed the bag down. It contained a mission patch for the Apollo 1 flight that Ed White never flew due to his death in the fire; medallions commemorating Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, and Vladimir Komarov, the first man to