The gift, which also included a small Alaskan state flag that was flown to the moon with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on the first manned moon landing mission, was one of about 185 such displays that were presented to the states, the United States' territories and to foreign nations.

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The Second Era, which saw Soviet cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts almost routinely venturing into space, was punctuated in 1969 when Neil Armstrong (who, in a sad irony, just passed at the age of 82) and Dr. Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon.

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Buzz Aldrin, the pilot on the Apollo 11 moon landing, paid him this tribute in a BBC interview in 2009.

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