Nicaragua lunar sample displays Nicaragua lunar sample displays The Nicaraguan lunar sample displays are two commemorative plaques consisting of small fragments of moon specimen brought back with the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 moon missions and given in the 1970s to the people of Nicaragua by United States President Richard Nixon as goodwill gifts. The Nicaragua Apollo 11 lunar sample display commemorative podium style plaque consists of four rice-size "moon rock" particle specimens collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 and a small Nicaraguan flag that was taken to the moon and back on Apollo 11. The 4 "moon
Neil Armstrong December 23, 1968, as Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. In a meeting that was not made public until the publication of Armstrong's biography in 2005, Slayton told him that although the planned crew was Commander Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, he was offering Armstrong the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After thinking it over for a day, Armstrong told Slayton he would stick with Aldrin, as he had no difficulty working with him and thought Lovell deserved his own command. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell would have made Lovell the lunar module