Time Capsules

Words by Brandon Goh

Time capsules, containers that where precious items are placed into and put away for a certain period of time only to be reopened later. It is a simple concept, but it gives glimpses into the past and evokes a nostalgic longing in people. There is even an International Time Capsule Society to study them! With so many stories behind each time capsule, The Buffalo Horn (TBH) would like to zoom in on a few. And no, not all time capsules are found, which adds to the story behind them.

The first time capsule in our story is the Yahoo! time capsule. A brainchild of the web service provider Yahoo! Inc., it was meant to provide a snapshot of what life in 2006 was like. Yahoo! users could provide photographs, videos, writings or audio and view contributions by other participants as an exercise of “digital anthropology”.

Believe it or not, there were even plans to use the time capsule to communicate with aliens! Yahoo! even wanted to beam the time capsule’s contents as a laser from an ancient Mexican pyramid to reach out to extraterrestrial life! However, these plans were scrapped, and an 18-hour live production took place instead before the time capsule closed on 8th November 2006.

Now, the million-dollar question is, has the time capsule been opened? As of 2020, yes! The time capsule was meant to be opened on the 25th anniversary of Yahoo! Inc., which happens to be the year 2020. Sadly, Yahoo! has since experienced a decline in its prominence, rendering the reopening a more muted occasion compared to the fan-fare of 2006.

Although the Yahoo! time capsule failed to take flight, the next time capsule we’re covering was literally out of this world. Introducing... the Apollo 11 goodwill messages! A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space mission, Apollo 11 was the first spaceflight that landed on the Moon in 1969.

Besides uttering the famous line “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, the astronauts also brought with them a time capsule. Encased within was a disk the size of a 50-cent coin. On this seemingly unremarkable piece of silicon, there was a compelling message — the wishes of over 70 world leaders for world peace and goodwill. The Apollo 11 messages were the first of their kind, a time capsule buried in outer space instead of Planet Earth to herald a great achievement for humanity. Beyond its groundbreaking significance, the capsule also showed the quirks of human nature. From short and sweet congratulatory notes to more verbose messages, the Apollo 11 capsule had them all. There were even humble brags inside it, such as Greece’s allusion to being “forerunners in the philosophical thought” and Portugal’s “discoverers on the unknown Earth, in centuries past”. It was truly a historic moment, warts and all. In fact, these historical messages from that era are not just out in space, but available right at our fingertips. NASA has uploaded the entire Apollo 11 press release and goodwill messages onto the public domain. A simple Google search, and you’re good to go.

Having talked about the Apollo 11 capsule, it is now time to take things closer to home. The last capsule in our article is the National Stadium time capsule. Buried in 1970 by Dr. Goh Keng Swee, it was placed under the Foundation Stone of the old National Stadium. Inside it was books, newspaper articles, and sports memorabilia collected over the years.

Time capsules evoke a sense of nostalgia and an idealized longing for the past. Personally, I have not actually placed an item in a time capsule before. However, I find that doing a “Marie Kondo”, or decluttering old items in my home tends to evoke similar emotions.

For instance, reading through my old journals and notebooks, I am reminded once again of the ramblings of a younger me. Sometimes amusing and other times downright cringeworthy, these musings bring back a long forgotten self I have since outgrown. This is where I think the beauty of time capsules lie in. While the items people bury in them are seemingly insignificant, it brings a slice of the past into the present. It is not so much the buried item itself, but the values and memories attached to it that gives meaning to a time capsule.

While it can be said that change is the only constant, time capsules provide a glimpse of how things once were. And in them, we find a story of our lives.