File photo - Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) in this July 20, 1969 NASA handout photo. (REUTERS/NASA/Handout via Reuters)

File photo - Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) in this July 20, 1969 NASA handout photo. (REUTERS/NASA/Handout via Reuters)

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This week marks the anniversary of a landmark accomplishment in man history. On July 16, 1969, astronauts Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins left Earth in Apollo 11. A few days later on July 20, man took his showtime steps on the moon.

Frankly, we're however amazed at how they pulled it off. The astronauts up in space and the NASA technicians on the ground overcame seemingly impossible obstacles, and were forced to contend with unforeseen situations such as broken equipment, backlog trash and unrelenting flatulence (seriously).

Check out these 10 strange-but-true facts related to the Apollo 11 mission:

#1. Neil Armstrong's famous quote was incorrectly transmitted. Instead of the saying, "That's one small-scale step for man," the astronaut claims he said, "That'south i small step for a man." Equally he in one case clarified to a biographer: "I think that reasonable people volition realize that I didn't intentionally brand an inane argument and that certainly the 'a' was intended, because that's the only manner the argument makes whatsoever sense."

#2. President Nixon was prepared for the worst, every bit was his speechwriter William Safire. Safire put together a tribute to the Apollo 11 astronauts but in example they never made it dwelling. "In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations," the president would accept read in one of the speech'south poignant lines. "In mod times, we practice much the same, merely our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood."

#3. The flag isn't the only thing the Apollo xi astronauts left behind. Over 100 items were discarded on the lunar surface, including a commemorative plaque and a gold replica of an olive co-operative, as well equally trash items such equally moon boots, a camera, urine containers and air-sickness numberless. (Armstrong and Aldrin were told to jettison their junk to make room for the samples they collected.) Several states have lobbied to make the lunar landing site a national monument in order to prohibit future moon travelers from stealing these items and selling them on eBay.

#four. Neil Armstrong couldn't afford the life insurance policy for an astronaut, so he, along with Fizz Aldrin and Michael Collins, hatched an alternating programme. Prior to their mission, the three signed hundreds of autographs while under quarantine. They so sent these autographs off to a friend, who would postmark them on the date of Apollo 11's launch, and in the event of a tragedy, the friend would distribute the memorabilia to the astronauts' families for them to sell for money.

#5. The Apollo 11 mission insignia was designed by coiffure member Michael Collins. On astronaut Jim Lovell's advice, he chose an eagle (which he originally traced from a National Geographic book) preparing to land on the surface of the moon with an olive co-operative in its pecker. NASA, however, felt the eagle's talons looked also aggressive, and then Collins resubmitted the blueprint with the hawkeye holding the olive branch in clenched claws.

#half dozen. Upon entering the lunar module to begin their journey habitation, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong discovered that a switch on a crucial circuit billow was broken, leaving them without a way to ignite the engine. They tried to sleep while NASA's mission command worked out a solution, just Aldrin somewhen decided to jam his felt-tip pen into the mechanism to use equally a make-shift switch, and it worked.

#seven. According to Collins himself, the astronauts were plagued by "gross flatulence" every bit a result of excess bubbling in their beverages. "The drinking water is laced with hydrogen bubbles," he wrote in his 1974 autobiography "Carrying the Burn: An Astronaut's Journeys." "These bubbles produced gross flatulence in the lower bowel, resulting in a not-so-subtle and pervasive scent which reminds me of a mixture of wet canis familiaris and marsh gas."

#eight. The original footage from the lunar camera is gone. First noticed missing in 2006, the tapes were likely erased and reused to record data beaming back from one of several satellites launched in the 1980s. This lost footage, which was much clearer that what viewers saw on television receiver, survives simply in the broadcast formats.

#9. Neil Armstrong was the first human being on the moon for two reasons: firstly, because he was the senior astronaut of the 2 that descended to the lunar surface from the control module; and secondly, because the design of the lunar module forced him out earlier Aldrin. The placement of the hinges on the hatch made information technology and then the door opened toward Aldrin, boxing him in. Armstrong, on the other paw, had a clear path.

#ten. Co-ordinate to the astronauts who landed in that location, the moon has a olfactory property. After tracking moon dust dorsum into the lunar module and removing their helmets, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin thought the lunar materials smelled of "wet ashes in a fireplace" and "gunpowder," respectively. Merely dorsum here on Earth, our oxygen-rich temper renders the moon grit odour-costless.