“That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” were the words the first man to set foot on the moon said 40 years ago. The voyage to the moon and back in 1969 was also mirrored in the communist world Romania was a part of. Sursa: NorthFoto
The first moonwalk was shown on public television in Romania and among those to comment the big event was Andrei Bacalu, a doctor from the western town of Topoloveni. His trump card was he spoke several languages. With the televised event, Bacalu’s popularity burst, to the discomfort of the communist leaders.
When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the Moon, the streets in the southeastern European country emptied as people were hurrying home to see it all on TV.
The astonishing event got the communist ruler of Romania thinking. Nicolae Ceausescu was taking full advantage of the warming up of relationships with the western countries, many of which regarded him as a more liberal leader than other communists. This was before hell broke loose in Romania and repressions against the so-called party enemies were worryingly growing in number.
Documents from that year show that the Communist Party was interested in finding out as many details possible about the first moonwalk. Scientist Horia Hulubei asked the party’s approval to get rocks from the moon to be studied in the country. Though the response to this request remains a mystery, a clear fact is that Romania got its hands on some rocks from the Russians and did thorough analyses of the composition, finding no traces of water.
Conspiracy theory
A downside to any major progress is the inevitable suspicious voice which utters the conspiracy theory. Back in 1969 this theory gained in popularity and those orchestrating it claimed that Americans made it all up and man
