Apollo 11: First man on the moon - 40 years ago

[PeriscopeDepth]

Certainly one of the greatest achievements of the human race.

A pity what has happened to the direction of manned spaceflight (or lack thereof) since in this country.

PD

[Biggles]

Google frontpage:


Told ya so!

Also, saw this on youtube:

[Oberon]

"Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed."

[Onkel Neal]

Neil Armstrong sends thankyou to Aussie 'mates'

IN all the tests ahead of his epic moon mission, Neil Armstrong never once saw a successful transmission sent from Apollo 11's television camera to the nearby control room.
So he was the "most surprised person in the human race" when mission control said they were receiving images of his first steps on the moon - over a distance of more than 400,000km.
Armstrong recalled the historic moment in a letter to the Australians who helped broadcast the first pictures to the world in 1969.
"I was never concerned that the picture was less than optimum, I was just amazed that there was any picture at all," he wrote.
The letter was read out at a gathering at the deep space complex near Canberra, to mark the 40th anniversary of the first time man walked on the moon.
Among the guests were the engineers and technicians who manned the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, which sent out the first pictures.

Bravo, Australia!

[PeriscopeDepth]

The landing as portrayed in HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon". I highly recommend you pick up the DVD set if you haven't yet, can be had for only $25 nowadays. A little choppy video, but still a good watch...




PD

[Onkel Neal]

Lunar drama -- the words of Neil and Buzz

Freakin' amazing, when you think about it. The real Star Trek:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090720/NATION/907200308/Lunar-drama----the-words-of-Neil-and-Buzz

,

[SteamWake]

I watched a documentry called "Beyond the moon, failure is not an option" but it basically chronicaled the history of the space program.

As I watched it I was struck at the number of people whom literally gave their lives in this pursuit.

[Onkel Neal]

CBS news footage of the event as it unfolded, as narrated by the late Walter Cronkite.








.

[Bill Nichols]

Here's a must-see interview with Buzz Aldrin:

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

As the moment approaches, I want to add a personal thanks to Pres. Kennedy for his inspiration and guts to commit the US to win the moon. His decision had a monumental impact on the course of our country.

.

'We choose the moon not because it is easy"

and

"Ask not what can your country do for you, rather ask what you can do for your country"

Sigh... where has that spirit gone?

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Oberon

http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/#

Flash HEAVY but good

This is freakin awsome and worth a look !

[LiveGoat]

Some great footage here:

http://www.apollotv.net/

I was just a few months old when Apollo 17 landed so I guess I barely made it. For all the naysayers who think it was a hoax, all you have to do is watch the videos in the above link and listen to the voice of the great Charlie Duke, who was the voice of CapCom you hear talking to armstrong during Apollo 11. Charlie later went on Apollo 16 and when you hear him speak you immediately hear the voice of someone who is having the time of his life.

[Graf Paper]

The rueful thought for me is how we were able to put men on the moon within that decade, as Kennedy had proclaimed, yet we faltered and fell back in the mid-seventies and became side-tracked with "white elephants" like the Space Shuttle and ISS.

Why is it that, in forty years, we have achieved none of the dreams imagined at that time? Where's the lunar city, the orbiting space colonies and docks for interplanetary travel, a manned base on Mars, and mining operations in the asteroid belt? It only took ten to realize the full potential of the Apollo program. We're still firing rockets into space that rely on the same chemical reactions as Goddard used a century ago!

I think NASA has become yet another bureaucratic cog in the government machine, more adept at politics and budgets than any real achievement. Man may return to space, someday, but there's no rule that says the astronauts will be flying an American flag.

So, when I look up at the Moon tonight and think back on a day, not unlike this one, forty years ago, the only feeling I have is one of bitter disappointment for what might have been.

[nikimcbee]

You guys are all crazy, none of this ever happened. Whoppi goldberg said so!
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vid..._theories.html

[SteamWake]

White elephants aside

Which contributed more to science in toto

1.) Apollo 11 and man on the moon

2.) The hubble telescope and er... getting it fixed.

I vote number 2 keeping in mind that if no 1 had not happened no 2 would never had.

But yea its been 40 years and now were struggeling with backed up toilets :rotfl: