The Queen sent a message of congratulations to Apollo 11 astronauts for the first moon landing on the 21st July,1969.  The message was micro-filmed and deposited on the moon in a metal container.

The Queen has met the following astronauts at Buckingham Palace:

a. The first astronaut to go into space - Russian  - Major Yuri Gagarin.

b. The first woman in space - Russian - Mrs Valentina Tereschkova.

c. The first man on the moon - American - Neil Armstrong - and the other American astronauts, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin.

The Queen sent her first email in 1976 from an Army base.

There have been six Archbishops of Canterbury during The Queen's reign (Archbishops Geoffrey Fisher, Michael Ramsey, Donald Coggan, Robert Runcie, George Carey and Rowan Williams).

History was made in 1982 when Pope John Paul II visited Britain, the first Pope to do so for 450 years. The Queen, Titular Head of the Church of England, received him at Buckingham Palace.

The Queen first visited a mosque in the UK for the first time in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire in July 2002.

The Queen has attended 50 Royal Maundy services during her reign at more than 39 different cathedrals.  The Queen has only missed four services - two for official tours and two for the births of Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

The Queen has owned more than 30 corgis during her reign, starting with Susan who was a present for her 18th birthday in 1944. A good proportion of these have been direct descendants from Susan. The Queen currently has five corgis, Emma, Linnet, Monty, Holly and Willow.

The Queen also introduced a new breed of dog known as the "dorgi" when one of Her Majesty's corgis was mated with a dachshund named Pipkin which belonged to Princess Margaret. The Queen currently has four dorgis, Cider, Berry, Candy and Vulcan.

As well as corgis and dorgis, The Queen also breeds and trains Labradors and Cocker Spaniels at Sandringham.  There is a special Sandringham strain of black Labrador founded in 1911.