An archive for the event design can be found here: r/PBApollo50.

Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed!

Today marks the 50th anniversary of when humanity went where no other had gone before: the surface of the Moon! Ever since the beginning of human history, we have looked up to the skies and wished to reach for the stars. The moon is an unmissable part of the night sky (unless when it is in the new moon lunar phase), and for centuries we have wanted to go there.

Only until the 1950s was the possibility of reaching the moon considered genuine when the Space Race kicked off. Starting with Sputnik 1 from the USSR and Explorer 1 from the USA, the age of pioneering space exploration began, and the moon was one of the early targets. The Soviet's Luna 3 in 1959 was able to capture the far side of the moon in photographs for the first time, starting a series of missions from the superpower to explore and collect information of the moon.

During this time, the USSR was also able to oust the USA in certain feats: the first man into space, the first EVA, the first soft lunar landing, and much more. In the midst of a Cold War seemingly about to turn hot, President John F. Kennedy of the United States of America launched an immensely dangerous and daring plan only shortly after the Americans began sending men into space: to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely before the end of the decade.

With over 400,000 people signing up for this immense program, the US mustered their way through the Mercury program and into the Gemini (a program intended to test what humans can do in space, such as rendezvous, docking, EVA, etc.) and Apollo (the lunar manned exploration program) missions. However, crises struck NASA, the US's space program, culminating in the Apollo 1 disaster in January 1967. The disaster almost ended the lunar program, but it continued on with the remaining foundations of political and monetary support. Going full speed ahead and learning that the Soviets had plans to also send men to the moon (that would ultimately fail), the first men to reach the moon on Apollo 8 in December 1968 made the dreams of reaching the moon that many science fiction works, including that of 2001: A Space Odyssey which had been released that very same year, were coming to fruition.

In July of 1969, three men were tasked by the Americans to serve as humanity's ambassadors to the lunar surface: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Launched on the most powerful and sophisticated rocket ever used in history, the Saturn V, Armstrong and Aldrin would end up reaching the lunar surface as Collins orbited the moon above.

Armstrong would then step down the ladder in front of millions of citizens worldwide via telvision to utter the most famous words in space exploration's history:

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

This event wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of these members of /r/PolandballCommunity:

• /u/AndyRedditor
• /u/B0LSH3V1K_C0MRAD3
• /u/Barskie
• /u/Blackfire853
• /u/burritoburkito6
• /u/Butt_Billionaire
• /u/ImBatPenguin
• /u/jackson_games_cb
• /u/javacode
  
• /u/polandball2101
• /u/TheSnipenieer

May we all moonwalk together!

To express your support towards the manned lunar program, add two hashes (##) at the front of your text like this:

##We come to the moon for all of mankind!

We come to the moon for all mankind!