I always wanted a piñata… this one would be ideal for my next birthday party. Alternately, NASA employees and spaceflight enthusiasts could use it to vent frustration. Either way, all you need is some candy and a baseball bat.

40 years ago today, this happened. [points up] Which led to exciting times for the astronauts… [points down]

Well, the point was, not only did we land on the moon in 1969, the astronauts lived to tell about it, and in fact came back here:

…which really, is quite remarkable.

I’ve always liked Google’s logo designs for special events, and for the 40th on Monday, they had this up, which I find admirably subtle:

This picture was actually taken 40 years ago *yesterday*…. but who’s counting? Not me.

After the most famous voyage of modern times, it was time to go home. After proving that humanity has the ability to go beyond the confines of planet Earth, the first humans to walk on another world — Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — flew the ascent stage of their Lunar Module back to meet Michael Collins in the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module. Pictured above on 1969 July 21, the ascending spaceship was captured by Collins making its approach, with the Moon below, and Earth far in the distance.

40 years ago today, astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were on their way to the Moon.

AS11-36-5355 (17 July 1969) — Most of Africa and portions of Europe and Asia can be seen in this spectacular photograph taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft during its trans-lunar coast toward the moon. Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, onboard was already 98,000 nautical miles from Earth when this picture was made. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Collins remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “Columbia” in lunar orbit.

…a Saturn V launched toward the Moon. Over the next few days I will be sharing photos from Apollo 11, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing.

And here’s the official logo!

The astronauts were international celebrities. A goodwill tour carried them to 24 countries and 27 cities in 45 days. Thousands swarmed them during a parade in Mexico City on September 23, 1969.

So you’ve seen all the iconic Apollo 11 photos. Odds are, in the media and such, you’re seeing them right now, and will do so for the next month. Well here’s a smattering you’ve probably NEVER seen — *I* certainly had not seen them, until now — showing the befores and afters of America’s first moon-landing mission. (Link via Flight Plan.)

The above photo is my favorite of the bunch — astronauts in sombreros, lol — and below, I had to include a photo of Mr. Enigmatic, Neil Armstrong:

Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, seen with the helicopter he flew to practice landing the Lunar Module.

…at which point, this happened:

Kaguya Impact: IRIS2- AAT - 4 frm, flash in 2, faint in 3 & 4.
2.3 µm nbf - TS=1s ex/0.6s by Jeremy Bailey and Steve Lee

Today’s Picspam is LAUNCHspam, brought to you by the successful launch yesterday of the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite):

They are both headed toward the Moon, to do Cool Things:

LCROSS
The LCROSS mission’s objective is to confirm the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the moon’s South Pole.

LRO: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The LRO mission objectives are to find safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology.

And here they are, waiting to go (on the far left, you can see Space Shuttle Endeavour still on the pad after Wednesday’s launch scrub):

Here’s a closer view of the rocket:

And here’s another view of the launch!

All good things come to an end, it seems, and so goes the Kaguya (SELENE) probe, put into lunar orbit by JAXA (the Japanese space agency) in October 2007. In addition to many practical detectors, Kaguya also carried two HD cameras, resulting in some staggering video footage. Kaguya will impact the Moon’s surface today — a great mission comes to an end.