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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Abigail Marlow & Sam Elliott-Gibbs

Inside abandoned cottage with WW2 letters and iconic moon landing Daily Mirror newspaper

This eerie cottage left abandoned for years has a copy of the Daily Mirror' s iconic newspaper proclaiming the first moon landing scattered across the floor.

The property in Fife, Scotland, also sees historic letters from the Second World War left lying around.

The exterior of the stone building is crumbling and gradually being consumed by nature with leaves, branches and moss attaching themselves to it.

Once inside the property, it appears to be a hoarder's dream with objects filling each dishevelled room from floor to ceiling leaving very little room to step.

A selection of books, vinyl records, and a globe are strewn across one of the rooms with an old television, radio, photographs, and books scattered across a table covered in glass shards in another, as a mass of debris can be seen lurking underneath it.

Old Spice aftershaves, a John Wayne tape, and a kilt hanging from the wardrobe are just a few more of the eclectic collection of items found within the walls of this unusual home.

Grant Vincent is the urban explorer who uncovered this fascinating property during his travels in Scotland.

Though he made some intriguing finds, Grant was especially surprised to discover a newspaper dating back to July 21 1969, the headline reading "Man Walks on the Moon".

As we as Neil Armstrong's ground-breaking Apollo 11 mission history, there is a letter sent from Luxembourg during The Second World War.

"There were many items that related to the second world war scattered throughout the cottage, including a letter in German to/from Luxembourg dated 1944," he said.

"When roughly translated, the letter appears to be from someone in Luxembourg during the war talking about how the Americans helped them and gave them supplies.

"They could have possibly been immigrants who fled the war or were related to someone who did in some way.

"Looking through the belongings of the people who lived here, you got a real idea of who they were. It's always quite surreal to find items that wouldn't have been used in decades."

It is 53 years since Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon for the first time.

After spending three days travelling to the Moon from Earth on board the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the astronauts entered lunar orbit on July 20, 1969.

Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the Apollo Lunar Module, known as Eagle , and landed in the Sea of Tranquility - a large, flat plain within the Moon's Tranquillitatis basin.

Armstrong's first step onto the lunar surface was broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience. He described the event as "one small step [a] for man, one giant leap for mankind."

The moon landing was one of the most momentous events of the 20th Century, and had a profound effect on the millions of people who watched it live on TV.

Tim Peake, astronaut at the European Space Agency (ESA), who did a stint on the International Space Station in 2016, described the Apollo 11 lunar landing as "humanity's most audacious mission and our greatest achievement".

He said: "It is no surprise that for those who watched it live, and for those who were born into a world where humans had already walked on the Moon, it remains a source of inspiration and wonder.

"As we reflect on past achievements and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, we must also look to the future as we embark on a new era of space exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond."

Both men wanted to be the first man to set foot on The Moon and they competed with each other for the accolade, as historian Jim Donovan wrote in his book Shoot For The Moon.

Jim documented how the pair were locked in a battle of wills and eventually Armstrong emerged the victor, and Buzz had to settle for second best.

Buzz Aldrin desperately wanted to be the first man to set foot on The Moon and both he and his father, Edwin Aldrin Snr, were campaigning behind the scenes for it to become reality.

Jim wrote: "Fellow astronauts and their wives were terrified at the prospect of sitting next to him at dinner, since he would expound on orbital mechanics for hours at a time."

Aldrin, who thought he could communicate telepathically, earned himself the nickname Dr Rendezvous because of his skill at docking two space crafts.

"But in between practice landings, they would sit on a shelf behind them.

"Other Apollo crews practising for a landing, talked and joked during these breaks, but Armstrong and Aldrin said so little to each other that simulation supervisors thought they had fallen asleep."

In the February before the mission a top NASA official is said to have claimed Aldrin would be the one to take the first steps onto The Moon's surface.

Just nine days later, Sam Phillips, the Apollo programme manager, said: "The decision hasn't been made."

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