Apollo+40: Landing Morning

Apollo 11 is beginning their preparations to descend to the lunar surface in LM Eagle. A little before 9:00 AM this morning, Mission Control relayed the following items to the crew:


Okay. Church services around the world today are mentioning Apollo ll in their prayers. President Nixon's worship service at the White House is also dedicated to the mission, and our fellow astronaut, Frank Borman, is still in there pitching and will read the passage from Genesis which was read on Apollo 8 last Christmas. The Cabinet and members of Congress, with emphasis on the Senate and House space committees, have been invited, along with a number of other guests...

Among the large headlines concerning Apollo this morning, there's one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl called Chang-o has been living there for 4,000 years. It seems she was banished to the Moon because she stole the pill of immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit, who is easy to spot since he is always standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. The name of the rabbit is not reported.

The crew's reply to the last was, "Okay. We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl."