# @clubeleven on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DJUfFqkRuUp
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/30214145-clubeleven-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/154ed10791.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-05-06T17:13:42.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** CLUBELEVEN (@clubeleven) — https://gondola.cc/clubeleven

## Caption

It’s outlandish. How did the Apollo 11 crew end up taking soccer souvenirs on the first mission to the moon? It seems impossible, but it’s true.

“If they’re going to be humanity’s biggest heroes this century, they must be official members of our club.” That’s what the PR secretary of caindependiente from Argentina said at the start of 1969. And he followed through.

The club quickly made Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins honorary members (or socios) of Independiente. They even created official IDs for the whole crew with their NASA headshots. But that wasn’t all.

According to Independiente’s treasurer at the time, their goal was to get club souvenirs to the astronauts so that they’d take them up to space. They wanted to be the first club to have their flag up on the moon. The club used its connections at the American embassy in Argentina to make it happen, sending the whole crew jerseys and pennants for them and their families.

In May of 1969, before departing for the moon, Neil Armstrong confirmed the receipt of the items in a letter to the club. He thanked them cordially for the gifts and mentioned he hoped to one day visit their facilities if he was ever in Buenos Aires again.

Years later, Independiente’s PR secretary ran into Armstrong at a reception at the American embassy in Buenos Aires. Via translators — and in the presence of the American ambassador — Armstrong confessed to club officials that he had in fact taken an Independiente pennant up to space.

According to those officials, Armstrong said he took the pennant up on the module, and that it had been like a good luck amulet for them. In a way, America literally took soccer to the moon. 

For more hidden soccer files, visit clubelevenmail.com. A weekly drop of the American soccer history you were never meant to hear. Free every Tuesday.

#soccerhistory
#soccerfans 
#independiente
#todorojo
#apollo11
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#clubelevenmag

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## Tags

todorojo, neilarmstrong, soccerhistory, apollo11, soccerfans, independiente, clubelevenmag

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