In 1971, Apollo 15 secretly left a tiny aluminum astronaut on the moon; beside it was a plaque naming 14 dead American and Soviet space travelers

An aluminum figurine measuring three and a half inches lies face down on the Moon beside a tiny metal plaque engraved with the names of fourteen people. The object has remained in the Hadley-Apennine region of the Moon for more than five decades since 1971. It remains one of the strangest, most human objects NASA has ever left on the Moon, yet only a few people know about it.