Apollo 11 insignia. At Scheer's suggestion, the CM was named "Columbia" after "Columbiad", the giant cannon that launched a spacecraft (also from Florida) in Jules Verne's 1865 novel "From the Earth to the Moon". It also referenced Columbia, a historical name of the United States. The astronaut had personal preference kits (PPKs), small bags containing personal items of significance that they wanted to take with them on the mission. Five PPKs were carried on Apollo 11: three (one for each astronaut) were stowed on "Columbia" before launch, and two on "Eagle". Neil Armstrong's LM PPK contained a piece of wood from the
Apollo 11 in popular culture Apollo 11 in popular culture The Apollo 11 mission was the first human spaceflight mission to land on the Moon. The mission's wide effect on popular culture was anticipated and since then there have been a number of portrayals in media. The mission was extensively covered in the press. Over 53 million households tuned in to watch this mission on TV, and over 530 million viewers worldwide watched the moon landing. This broke the previous record of the most viewers, and launched the Apollo 11 coverage to be the most watched TV programming up to that date. The United States