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At the top of the disc is the incription: "Goodwill messages from around the world brought to the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11." Around the rim is the statement: "From Planet Earth -- July 1969."
The messages from foreign leaders congratulate the United States and its astronauts and also express hope for peace to all nations of the world. Some are handwritten, others typed and many are in native language. A highly decorative message from the Vatican is signed by Pope Paul.
Silicon, which first came into general use during World War II in the production of diodes, was chosen to bear the miniaturized messages for its ability to withstand the extreme temperatures of the Moon which range from 250 degrees to minus 280 Fahrenheit.
Because of its purity and stability, silicon is used extensively today in production of tiny integrated circuits by a process that permits hundreds of devices to be formed at one time within the thin silicon disc.
The same process used in making integrated circuits produced the message chip. First, the messages were photographed and the photo reduced 200 times.
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