We Came In Peace For All Mankind: The Untold Story of the Apollo 11 Silicon Disc

Tahir Rahman
Leathers Publishing (2007)
ISBN 9781585974412

Reviewed by Rebecca Brown for RebeccasReads (1/08)

Almost forty years ago we were glued to our tvs watching NASA's greatest show yet: humans encased in silver space suits cavorting on the Moon, our one and only orbital companion which has inspired us to lunacy and romance and poetry for countless generations. No, Virginia, there is no Man in the Moon, only astronauts upon it.

Above all other images we remember the one of Earthrise as our big blue marble hove into view beyond the curve of Moon's horizon. Then there was the planting of a floppy Stars and Stripes and the reading of the plaque below. What none of us remember, and the astronauts themselves almost forgot to do, was the placing of a cloth pouch in which reposed elegant powder compact-like cases of various materials which protected a silicon disc the size of a half-dollar, etched with goodwill messages from nation states around our world.

I'm a devoted NASA TV channel watcher and eagerly follow each and every activity they deign to show us, as well as camping out in my recliner when something's being delivered to the International Space Station, either by one of the Shuttles or Europe and Russia's rockets. At times it’s like watching paint dry or grass grow; however, during those slow motion moments, I'm hard at work thinking Big Thoughts about Deep Space, Deep Time and deep excitement. Perhaps I'll come back in my next incarnation to be an astronaut.

So, when Tahir Rahman sent me his beautiful coffee-table tome “We Came In Peace For All Mankind: The Untold Story of the Apollo 11 Silicon Disc,” I was hooked from page one and not only by the multitude of glorious color photos.

The silicon disc was intended to tell who/whatever opens it upon landing on the Moon how diverse the inhabitants of the planet they see on the horizon are, and hopefully dissuade the reader/s from violent invasion. What we left was an engraved invitation to come visit, and ““We Came In Peace For All Mankind” is your invitation, too.

In the beginning there are awe-inspiring photos of Earthrise, a footprint and the silicon disc coupled with quips and quotes from Moonwalkers and prime ministers, and then Tahir Rahman's story starts: “Neil Armstrong peered through one of the small windows

of the lunar module, Eagle...” He was preparing to step outside his safety zone into the unknown. Six-hundred-million people watched him, and “we laughed and cried and lit up cigars.” It was a different time, folks, B4PC = before personal computers and political correctness both! “Our world was united in a unique way while the astronauts walked on a surreal world for the first time in {our} history.”

I enjoyed learning the story of the planning committee's conclusions, especially #2: “The activities should be in good taste from a world perspective.” Naturally, like Columbus did, we thought to plant a flag, and a whole host of them was packed on board to be brought back as souvenirs for such places at the U.S. Congress and those who administer the hard cash (not nearly enough of our taxes, so I say) for NASA's projects. Then someone thought up the commemorative plaque and we see its genesis.

Soon we’re briefly meeting the Apollo 11 Crew, reading about how slivers of wood from the Orville brother’s Kitty Hawk would be in the baggage. Some attention is devoted to how it was decided to use a United States flag instead of another one, and how to make and hang such a flag in Moon’s gravity-deficient atmosphere, as well as other Moonly scientific considerations.

Then we get to NASA’s invitation to world leaders to add their 2 cents, and while we wait for them to reply, we learn who made the silicon disc and how. It becomes quite evident that Sprague Electric Company had a nightmare of a deadline. Then we’re on to launch preparations, and soon they’re off to the Moon.

The Library of Goodwill Messages makes up most of the rest of this volume: who and how the leaders of the world responded. I like that there’s a map to each nation’s reply so we can learn where on Earth they are/were. Plus it includes a whole slew of Americans who backed the endeavor. It all sounds so dry, until you read it and realize how much was etched in gold into that little disc.

Tahir Rahman, a physician fascinated by the Apollo Program, was given a duplicate of the silicon disc by Neil Armstrong. What he found, upon magnification, on that little piece of plastic (sic!) so astonished him that he just had to investigate further, rousing NASA historians to dust off their memories and unearth storage boxes in the warrens of the Library of Congress that had gathered decades of dust.

“We Came In Peace For All Mankind” is a superb addition to your library. To be oohed & aahed over by all the generations of your family. Very well done!