Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Months after Neil Armstrong’s passing in 2012, his widow, Carol Armstrong, stumbled upon a surprising discovery in his closet—a white bag filled with spacecraft equipment from the Apollo 11 mission, according to My Modern Met.

The items, tucked away for decades, were never meant to return to Earth. But thanks to Armstrong’s quiet decision to keep them, a fascinating piece of space history was uncovered.




A mysterious bag hidden away for decades

During a routine check of Armstrong’s belongings in his Ohio home, Carol found an unassuming white cloth bag. The contents? A collection of small, intricate spacecraft parts—some of which had been onboard the Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle.

Recognizing the potential historical significance, she reached out to Allan Needell, the Apollo curator at the National Air and Space Museum.

"I received an email from Carol Armstrong that she had located in one of Neil's closets a white cloth bag filled with assorted small items that looked like they may have come from a spacecraft," Needell wrote in a 2015 blog post.

His response? Pure excitement.

"Needless to say, for a curator of a collection of space artifacts, it is hard to imagine anything more exciting."

A direct link to Apollo 11

Upon further investigation, the white bag was identified as a McDivitt Purse—a container used to store tools and equipment inside the Lunar Module.

Experts at the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (ALJS) analyzed the photographs of the items and confirmed they came from the Eagle. These artifacts had originally been intended to stay behind on the Moon, but Armstrong brought them home instead.

Among the historically significant objects found in the bag were:

  • A waist tether Armstrong used while resting on the Moon
  • Utility lights with brackets
  • Equipment netting
  • A metal mirror
  • An emergency wrench
  • The optical sight from above his window
  • The 16mm data acquisition camera (DAC) that recorded the lander’s final approach

A secret even his biographer didn’t know

Throughout his lifetime, Armstrong never publicly mentioned keeping these artifacts.

"As far as we know, Neil has never discussed the existence of these items and no one else has seen them in the 45 years since he returned from the Moon," Needell wrote.

Even James Hansen, Armstrong’s authorized biographer, was unaware of the collection.

"I asked James Hansen, Neil’s authorized biographer, if he had mentioned the items, and he had not," Needell added.

Why were the items kept?

The Apollo 11 mission transcripts give some insight into Armstrong’s reasoning.

As the crew prepared for their return flight, Armstrong told command module pilot Michael Collins:

"You know, that—that one's just a bunch of trash that we want to take back—LM parts, odds and ends and it won’t stay closed by itself. We will have to figure something out for it."

Instead of being abandoned on the lunar surface, the McDivitt Purse and its contents came back with Armstrong—remaining undisturbed for over four decades.

media1.tenor.com

An unexpected addition to space history

Thanks to Carol Armstrong’s keen eye, these long-lost Apollo 11 artifacts were finally brought to light. Each piece holds a unique story, offering a new perspective on history’s first Moon landing.

What was once meant to be left behind has now become a priceless addition to the National Air and Space Museum’s collection—a quiet but extraordinary legacy from Neil Armstrong himself.

More For You

The Himalayas on a clear day.

The towering Himalayas may seem unshakable, but deep beneath them, the Earth is shifting in ways scientists never expected.

The world’s most dangerous tectonic secret might lie under the Himalayas

The Himalayas, one of the most awe-inspiring mountain ranges on Earth, have long captured the imaginations of adventurers and scientists alike. Towering above the clouds, these colossal peaks hold not only breathtaking beauty but also crucial geological secrets. Recent research suggests something astonishing: the Indian tectonic plate—the very foundation of the Himalayas—may be splitting in two deep beneath the surface.

For millions of years, the Indian Plate has been pushing northward, colliding with the Eurasian Plate and giving rise to the Himalayas. But new findings from Stanford University geologist Simon L. Klemperer and his team indicate that this seemingly solid landmass is undergoing a dramatic transformation, one that could have significant implications for earthquakes and mountain stability in the region.

Keep ReadingShow less
dog behavior, canine intelligence, dog trust, pet psychology, animal science, dog study, trust in dogs, Akiko Takaoka, Kyoto University, dog memory, lie detection

Dogs know when you're lying, and they're not ok with it.

Your dog knows when you’re lying, and they’re quietly judging you for it

Your dog isn't just watching your every move—they're judging them, too. According to research by Akiko Takaoka of Kyoto University , dogs are a lot better at reading human behavior than we give them credit for. In fact, they know when you're lying. And worse? They remember it.

The experiment that exposed canine trust issues

smart dogs, science of dogs, emotional pets, dog-human bond, trustworthy pets, dog betrayalThey've evolved with us, and dogs know our tricks. Canva

In a clever experiment involving 34 eager and unsuspecting pups, Takaoka and her team put canine social smarts to the test. The setup was simple: most dogs will follow a human’s point to find food. So, first, researchers pointed to containers with treats. The dogs eagerly trotted over, rewarded with snacks and tail wags.

Keep ReadingShow less
near-death experience, Dannion Brinkley, life after death, consciousness, hospice care, panoramic life review, lightning strike, spiritual awakening, fear of death, tunnel of light, love, kindness, intent, death stories, dying process, afterlife, soul journey, hospice volunteer, fear, transformation

Representative Image: When you've touched death, it leaves its mark.

Photo by Guy Kawasaki via Unsplash

He died 3 times and came back with the same message: love is the only thing that matters

Dannion Brinkley has been clinically dead three times, but each experience gave him the same stunning insight — love, intent, and service are what really matter. His story invites us to see death not as an end, but a profound transformation.

Most people don't come back after death. Dannion Brinkley has done it three times — and what he brought back has changed lives.

Keep ReadingShow less
He was trapped in a 20-foot pit. Then he pulled off the ultimate escape.

A gravity-defying stunt

He was trapped in a 20-foot pit. Then he pulled off the ultimate escape.

A viral video from China has people questioning the laws of gravity—and then realizing it's all physics, skill, and a healthy dose of discipline. Posted on Xiaohongshu (also known as Rednote), the video shows a man inside a vividly colored pit, its vertical walls towering about 20 feet above him. There's seemingly no way out—until he starts running.

Don't try this at home.roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms

Keep ReadingShow less
A rendering of a black hole and its event horizon.

Representative Image: Black holes are the largest things in the universe, and the biggest mysteries.

They faked a black hole in a lab—and what it “leaked” has scientists freaking out

Black holes are the universe’s ultimate mystery box—nothing gets out, and no one really knows what’s inside. But now, a group of scientists may have just pulled off something incredible: they built a black hole replica right here on Earth.

And not just for fun. This experiment could help explain one of the biggest cosmic puzzles of our time—Hawking radiation, the theory that black holes slowly lose energy by giving off faint particles at their edges.

Keep ReadingShow less