SR0277 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0277 LRB101 11654 MST 58791 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Apollo 11 spacecraft was launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969 and was the first manned mission to land on the Moon; the first steps by humans on another celestial body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969; Apollo 11 achieved its primary mission, performing a manned lunar landing and returning safely to Earth; and

WHEREAS, Photographs taken from lunar orbit provided broad views for the study of regional lunar geology; the planned sequence of activities included deployment of a Solar Wind Composition (SWC) experiment, collection of a larger sample of lunar material, panoramic photographs of the region near the landing site and the lunar horizon, close-up photographs of in-place lunar surface material, deployment of a Laser-Ranging Retroflector (LRRR) and a Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP), and collection of two core-tube samples of the lunar surface; the astronauts returned to Earth with the first samples from another planetary body; and

WHEREAS, The Apollo 11 mission carried to the moon American flags, the flags of the 50 states, including Illinois, and the District of Columbia, the flags of the U.S. Territories, the United Nations, and other nations; a plaque with the signatures of President Richard Nixon, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin was affixed to the leg of the lunar landing; the plaque bears two images of the Earth and the inscription, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind"; and

WHEREAS, On July 20, 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon while Command Module Pilot Michael Collins orbited above them; Commander Armstrong was the first to walk on the surface of the moon, and when he took his first footstep, he declared that it was "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind", a famous line that has inspired many and has passed into history; and

WHEREAS, The lunar landing program was the culmination of decades of work by hundreds of thousands of people working across dozens of science, technology, and engineering disciplines; it has been estimated that over 400,000 engineers, scientists, and technicians contributed to the moon landing mission; and

WHEREAS, In 1973, the total cost of the Apollo program reported to Congress was $25.4 billion, approximately $183 billion in today's terms, which was paid for by American taxpayers; and

WHEREAS, Apollo 11 paved the way for the Apollo lunar landing missions to follow; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare July 20, 2019 Apollo 11 Day in the State of Illinois to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the United States' first manned lunar landing and return.