Heartbreaking meaning behind plaque on the moon consisting of 14 astronauts' names

A plaque left on the moon over 50 years ago has a heartbreaking backstory.

Across nine Apollo missions, a total of 24 astronauts have been to the moon, with 12 of them walking on its surface.

But it was during Apollo 15, back in 1971, that two astronauts laid a very special memorial to remember their fallen colleagues.

The commemorative plaque was left on the moon back in 1971, during Apollo 15, in memory of 14 NASA astronauts and USSR cosmonauts, who had sadly died in previous years.

Just next to the plaque also lies a tiny figurine, representing each astronaut.

NASA explain: "Their names are inscribed in alphabetical order on the plaque. The plaque was stuck in the lunar soil by astronauts David R. Scott, Apollo 15 commander, and James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot, during their lunar surface extravehicular activity."

The astronauts represented on the plaque are as follows:

1. Charles A. Bassett II
2. Pavel I. Belyayev
3. Roger B. Chaffee
4. Georgi Dobrovolsky
5. Theodore C. Freeman
6. Yuri A. Gagarin
7. Edward G. Givens Jr.
8. Virgil I. Grissom
9. Vladimir Komarov
10. Viktor Patsayev
11. Elliot M. See Jr.
12. Vladislav Volkov
13. Edward H. White II
14. Clifton C. Williams Jr.

The plaque remembers 14 astronauts (NASA)

Apollo 15 set off on 26 July 1971, with a number of different objectives, including exploring the Hadley-Apennine region of the moon, setting up and activating surface experiments, making engineering evaluations and conducting lunar experiments.

The team - consisting of David R. Scott, James B. Irwin, and Alfred M. Worden - set a number of records while in space, with NASA explaining: "Apollo 15 set several new records for crewed spaceflight: heaviest payload in a lunar orbit of approximately 107,000 pounds, maximum radial distance traveled on the lunar surface away from the spacecraft of about 17.5 miles... most lunar surface EVAs and longest total of duration for lunar surface EVAs."

The mission also set the record for the longest time in lunar orbit, as well as the longest crewed lunar mission and the longest Apollo mission.

It is believed that the existence of the plaque wasn't made public until the mission was complete.

The last moon landing was in 1972 (Getty Stock Photo)

The first men to walk on the moon were Neil Armstrong and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin on 20 July 1969.

At the time, Armstrong uttered the famous words: “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

The crew returned back to Earth on 24 July. Over the following few years, 10 astronauts also visited the moon, with the last mission taking place in 1972.