<P> After more than ​ 21 ⁄ hours on the lunar surface, in addition to the scientific instruments, the astronauts left behind an Apollo 1 mission patch and a memorial bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch as a traditional symbol of peace and a silicon message disk . The disk carries the goodwill statements by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon and messages from leaders of 73 countries around the world . The disc also carries a listing of the leadership of the US Congress, a listing of members of the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for the NASA legislation, and the names of NASA's past and present top management . </P> <P> After about seven hours of rest, the crew was awakened by Houston to prepare for the return flight . Two and a half hours later, at 17: 54 UTC, they lifted off in Eagle's ascent stage to rejoin Collins aboard Columbia in lunar orbit . Film taken from the LM Ascent Stage upon liftoff from the Moon reveals the American flag, planted some 25 feet (8 m) from the descent stage, whipping violently in the exhaust of the ascent stage engine . Aldrin looked up in time to witness the flag topple: "The ascent stage of the LM separated...I was concentrating on the computers, and Neil was studying the attitude indicator, but I looked up long enough to see the flag fall over ." Subsequent Apollo missions usually planted the American flags further from the LM to prevent them being blown over by the ascent engine exhaust . </P> <P> After rendezvous with Columbia, Eagle's ascent stage was jettisoned into lunar orbit on July 21, 1969, at 23: 41 UTC . Just before the Apollo 12 flight, it was noted that Eagle was still likely to be orbiting the Moon . Later NASA reports mentioned that Eagle's orbit had decayed, resulting in it impacting in an "uncertain location" on the lunar surface . The location is uncertain because the Eagle ascent stage was not tracked after it was jettisoned, and the lunar gravity field is sufficiently non-uniform to make the orbit of the spacecraft unpredictable after a short time . </P> <P> On July 23, the last night before splashdown, the three astronauts made a television broadcast in which Collins commented: </P>

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