Which astronaut carried Wright Flyer wood and fabric in his Apollo 11 kit?

Neil Armstrong carried pieces of the Wright Flyer’s wood and fabric in his Apollo 11 personal preference kit. The historic fragments came from the Wright brothers’ 1903 aircraft and traveled with Armstrong aboard the lunar module Eagle.

Armstrong’s kit included a piece of wood from the Wright Flyer’s left propeller and a piece of fabric from its wing. These objects linked the first powered airplane flight with humanity’s first crewed landing on another world. Armstrong had been a pilot before becoming an astronaut, making the connection especially appropriate.

The fragments went to the Moon and returned to Earth with the Apollo 11 crew. They were not part of the spacecraft’s required equipment; they were personal mementos selected for their symbolic importance. The Wright Flyer itself made its famous first flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, with Orville Wright at the controls.