South African invention lands on the moon

Krugersdorp was the hometown of engineer George Pratley who founded the Pratley research group (PTY) and went on to invent Pratley Putty in the early 1960's. Pratley Putty was used by NASA in 1969 on Apollo XI's Eagle landing craft and is the only South African product ever to go to the moon. The Apollo XI mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. Launched on 16 July 1969, it carried Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On 20 July, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above. Pratley died in 1983 and today the company is run by his son, Kim. Hundreds of tons of Pratley Putty have been exported all over the world, and the company has diversified into other products. Putty is only one of the Pratley Groups inventions.