The Classy Drink Buzz Aldrin Chose Over Tang After The Moon Landing - Tasting Table

Buzz Aldrin brought wine and a small portion of bread into the Apollo 11 lunar lander. He used a chalice provided by his Houston-area church and performed a brief, private Christian communion ceremony during the first lunar landing. The wine curled and moved along the chalice sides because of the Moon’s lower gravity. Aldrin ate the bread, read scripture from John 15:5, and sat quietly with the moment. Neil Armstrong watched without joining in. NASA kept the ceremony low-key, and Aldrin’s request to broadcast it to Earth was denied due to a prior incident involving Apollo 8.

"In 1969, when Buzz Aldrin and company landed on the moon for the first time, he had a special drink in the lander: wine. Despite Tang's reputation as the unofficial drink of the space age, Aldrin wasn't particularly sentimental about the stuff. What he actually brought to the moon - tucked carefully among his gear - was wine. Real wine, along with a small portion of bread."

"As a committed Presbyterian elder at his Houston-area church, Aldrin wanted to mark the moment of humanity's first lunar landing with something personally sacred - a Christian communion ceremony performed nearly 240,000 miles from Earth. The wine, when poured into a small chalice provided by his church, "curled" and moved alongside the sides of the cup in the moon's lower gravity. He ate the bread, read a passage of scripture (John 15:5), and sat quietly with the moment."

"Neil Armstrong, who held his own spiritual views, watched without joining in. It was brief and private and, for being the first religious ceremony done on the moon, was rather low-key. As it turns out, NASA had intentionally kept it that way. The wine and bread were kept secret for a tasteful reason."

"Buzz Aldrin told NASA administrators long before the flight that he'd like the moment to be broadcasted to the millions of watchers and listeners on Earth. However, Aldrin was not permitted to do so due to a previous "incident" in an earlier mission: Apollo 8. The flight was not unl"

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