By Richard Wybrow
When Neil Armstrong returned from mankind's first trip to the moon in 1969, it seems no one checked his carry-on luggage too closely.
Decades later, Mr Armstrong's widow found his luggage was full of historical treasures in a closet at home.
There was one small thing missing from Mr Armstrong's famous declaration as he stepped on the moon and said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
The word "a" was missing; he was supposed to say, "That's one small step for a man."
As it turns out, that's not all that went missing from the Apollo 11 lunar mission.
After Mr Armstrong's death, his wife found a secret stash of mementos the spaceman had brought back from the moon.
Hidden in a closet, inside a bag that had been supplied by NASA, were items like the waist tether used by Mr Armstrong.
There were also utility lights, netting, an optical sight used to help with docking and even the very camera that caught the moment Mr Armstrong first walked on the moon.
Now, Mr Armstrong's moon stash has a new home at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
These items were supposed to have been left on the moon back in 1969 and Mr Armstrong never told anyone about them over the next four decades.
The reason they stayed hidden so long is because no one knew they were missing.
3 News
source: newshub archive
