Editor's Note: This weekend, people all over the world are marking 50 years since Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, an event whose historic significance resonated with just about everyone on Earth in 1969, just as it does today. Like all events great and small, man’s reaching for and arriving on the Moon can be viewed through the lens of Judaism in myriad ways that serve as lessons to all of humankind.

Fifty years ago, on the Shabbat following the moon landing, as the reverberations of the momentous “small step for man” were felt around the world, the subject was addressed by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

Here, we present to you some of the Rebbe’s insights, as well as other pertinent Jewish perspectives on the moon landing, space exploration, and extraterrestrial life.