Doesn't time fly ?
From a couple of days ago when we were talking about trying to find webcams around Ypres......I DID end up watching the feed from a satellite in orbit around the moon, for a short time.
I was hoping I might be able to spot one of the launch 'platforms' from the Apollo missions...Nah !!......I didn't see one UFO either.
Happy Birthday Apollo 11. :)
Cheers - Phil
I can remember us watching a moon landing on tv, but whether it was the first one I honestly don't know. IIRC it interrupted a film, which didn't impress me very much. Looking up at the moon on the way to school and knowing there were men on there seemed strange and hard to fathom as a young kid.
I don't believe it either - cant have been that long ago. =O
I can remember seeing pictures of them whizzing around in the buggy, so that must have been one of the last three missions.
If you get the chance, go see Apollo 11 in the cinema. 'Tis a grand thing to see on the big screen (and with a decent sound system).
This is an interesting website, replaying the audio recordings from mission control in real time 50 years later, it lets you listen to the different controllers, not just Capcom
https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/ (https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/)
I can remember watching the first moon landing although it wasn't live in New Zealand
It was recorded in Australia and the film flown to NZ in a Canberra bomber then broadcast on a national link up that had been set up especially for the moon landing
My son, who is a space and aviation enthusiast, has had the pleasure of talking to the pilot who flew the Canberra
I watched it, after the event.
School-day the next day, so I didn't stay up/get up early to watch.
I wish I had, now.
Cheers - Phil
I missed most of it. I was 15 and in Denmark staying with a Danish family at the time. I vaguely remember their 14 year old daughter, who spoke the best English (and didn't have work to go to and so was 'put in charge' of me), taking me on what seemed like a long bus journey across Copenhagen and us ending up at her relatives house who were all crowded round a black and white TV. All I recall was seeing some grainy pictures and then we were on our way again to who knows where. A real disappointment because I had avidly followed the space race up to that time.
As for the landing itself - truly amazing. Especially when you think that after a journey of some quarter of a million(?) miles and 4 days, the initial landing site being judged to be too rough to land on and the landing computer crashing, Neil Armstrong finally managed to land the Eagle with only 15 seconds of fuel left! Despite being so close to possible disaster, he sounds very cool and in control .... however, behind the scenes, only ground control knew that his heart rate had jumped from the 70's to about 150! Which just goes to show that whilst getting these guys to the Moon in the first place was a huge scientific and technological achievement for mankind, you still needed astronauts "with the right stuff" to carry it through.... which, fortunately, these guys definitely had. =D>
Quote from: Steve J on 20 July 2019, 06:33:52 AM
Looking up at the moon on the way to school and knowing there were men on there seemed strange and hard to fathom as a young kid.
And there's a small minority who have since grown up and, still finding it hard to fathom, believe it never happened and the whole thing is a hoax .... (I know one of these guys .... not the sharpest tool in the box, btw .... ) #-o
..... and then there's the flat earthers who think that the only thing to fear is sphere itself .........
Flat Earthers. X_X
Gimme strength. ;D ;D ;D ;D
And of course we never landed on the moon. =) =) =) =) =)
Cheers - Phil.
I was 16 at the time, summer post-O Levels and doing two different summer jobs (Tesco in the week and hotel work at the weekends) so missed both the moon landing and the Investiture at Caernarfon, which was only just down the road. Mind you, never much of a fan of the space race, or stuff to do with science in general - find people much more interesting and have found how the astronauts coped with the whole thing the most riveting part of it all.
Quote from: Westmarcher on 20 July 2019, 09:11:51 AM
As for the landing itself - truly amazing. Especially when you think that after a journey of some quarter of a million(?) miles and 4 days, the initial landing site being judged to be too rough to land on and the landing computer crashing, Neil Armstrong finally managed to land the Eagle with only 15 seconds of fuel left!
Heard an interview the other day where he said he kept the stop watch still set at 15 secs as a momento of how close run it had been.
One day he looked at it and it said 18secs - he put it down to his faulty memory. Then he looked again a day or so later and it said 22secs.
Turned out his daughter was using it to time her sports times!!
Why not? It was only some old watch :D :D :D
;D ;D Like it!
Unfortunately, it sort of typifies the attitude of many of the younger (and some of the older) generation to this momentous event, too.
To be fair, I got the impression he'd never told the kids the significance of the watch.
I think I'd have had it encased in clear resin or similar.
Washington's Axe/ Ship of Theseus/ Checkov's Gun - if it is reset to 15 secs is that still as significant? :)
My wife and I had just gotten married, moved to a new city for work, and watched it on 12" portable tv. To this day the landing remains amazing.
I saw the re-run, as a space-mad 9 year old, sitting cross legged, in my school uniform summer shorts, on the floor of a baking hot school gym, on a large (the biggest I'd ever seen at that time anyway) grainy black & white TV.
Each class went in on a rotation basis and were all told not to tell the others anything about it until after we'd all seen it.
We all then had lunch and then had the afternoon off playing in the playground. Result all round.
It still in incredible to watch and what I particularly like (& use a lot, especially with youngsters at work) is President Kennedy's Sept'62 speech - "we choose to go to the Moon and these other things ..." but the bit I use is the bit that is often cut short ... ""...not because they are easy, but because they are hard.." :)
I am ever hopeful I might live long enough to see a manned flight to Mars ... I want to see if those giant white apes are there !!! :D
It is, to my mind, mankind's greatest endeavour.
Quote from: Dr Dave on 22 July 2019, 07:58:00 PM
It is, to my mind, mankind's greatest endeavour.
And to mine. If only we could take it forward as a world, and not individual nations.
This seems like a good way to wind down this topic.
Nice one Westmarcher
I was 6. It was a very big deal in Canberra then. The role of Honeysuckle Creek tracking station was something.
There is a nice Aussie comedy about it called "The Dish". Watch it. Sam Neil is excellent (a Kiwi). It is a good antidote to the whole ugly Aussie thing.
Definitely a nice one, Davy ! :)
Cheers - Phil
The dish is a superb film
Seconded