Why is July 20th International Moon Day?

* The authors are part of the La Vanguardia community of readers.

Did you know that today, July 20, is International Moon Day? And why?… Well, in FotoFlash of photos from La Vanguardia readers, we will not only explain it to you, but also show you a gallery of images of our natural satellite.

International Moon Day was established by the UN because on this day in 1969, for the first time in history, man stepped on the surface of the Moon. “The Moon is the first milestone on the way to the stars,” said the English writer and scientist Arthur Clarke.

So today marks the anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon, the Apollo 11 mission, but it is also a day to celebrate the achievements of all nations in lunar exploration and to raise public awareness about the sustainability of our natural satellite.

“For millennia, civilizations have looked to the sky, pondering the origins and mysteries of the Moon,” says the UN, “and ground-based observations using the first telescopes have opened a new chapter in understanding our celestial companion.”

Thus, “with the dawn of space activity, the Moon became the final destination for countless missions, including manned flights that left the first human footprints elsewhere in the Universe.”

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