Apollo 11 memorabilia - July 20, 1969

Fifty years ago today on July 20, 1969 two humans hopped around on the surface of The Moon for the first time ever. Much of the 21 hours was televised and the whole world was, for a moment, watching. Young boys stopped wanting to be firemen and started wanting to be astronauts instead. It was a civilization shaking event and, naturally, it inspired a flood of memorabilia.

(1) Illustrator D.D. "Dave" Williamson was impressed enough to do this 1969 dated pen and ink rendering to commemorate the event.
(2) Official NASA issued group photo of the Apollo 11 crew, an embroidered shoulder patch, and an Italian made ceramic figural Barsottini Wine bottle.
(3) 12" (30.5 cm) tall metal moon globe with date and landing site identified; metal "Space Capsule" still bank.
(4) Ashtray from recovery vessel U.S.S. Hornet - The odds of a successful mission were put at fifty-fifty. They knew they could get there but there were no guarantees they could get back. When they did successfully "splash down" in the Pacific Ocean, the U.S.S. Hornet was on scene to retrieve the astronauts. Four months later, they were on scene again for the recovery of Apollo 12.