Happy Moon day.

Chilidog · #1

55 years ago,

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

John Thomas8 · #2

I'm saddened thinking about that "what might have been".

Volkonski · #3

Chilidog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2024 6:07 pm 55 years ago,

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

I remember where I was then. At the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School. Even though it was after curfew the dorm monitors let us crowd into the 1st floor lounge to watch on a 19" black and white TV. Very exciting.

#4

I was 16, we stayed up and watched it all.

We landed men on the Moon. Back when our tech was in its infancy (Narrator: we're still in tech's infancy).

That is 758 kinds of awesome. Maybe more.

Volkonski · #5

Walter Cronkite on CBS expressed that excitement for the whole nation.

#6

Yeah, and we all thought it was the very pinnacle of human achievement, which it was at the time. I look back now, 55 years later, and it's surreal to me how those primitive Earthlings managed to put men on the Moon. My car has more and better computers than they had in their spaceship and their landing capsule. The cameras they brought to show us what was happening weren't even digital, they were a black and white mess. That's how bleeding primitive they were.

There's a Moon landing capsule in the hangar deck museum of the Yorktown aircraft carrier in Charleston, South Carolina. I spent many nights in the ship, with the Y-Guides program and my two boys.

Chilidog · #7

The fact that the computer systems were so primative back then was more of a blessing than a hindrance.

When problems happened, and the did, the issues were able to be quickly resolved.

Unfortunately, modern, high tech systems are much more sensitive to damage from high energy particles and space radiation. That is one of the issues that NASA has had to grapple with in the Artemis program.

#8

I may have watched. I may have not watched it. I don't remember.

ETA, I may have spit up during it. I may have smiled, but that may have been gas. I don't remember.

#9

We were at my uncle's house. It was late and I fell asleep but my dad woke me up to watch Armstrong step onto the surface, saying "you'll remember this your entire life." Thank you, Dad!

There's a channel called "Story TV", and they devoted Wednesday to airing shows dedicated to NASA and Apollo 11. I taped several of the shows and watched "Failure Is Not An Option" last night. It describes the beginning of NASA, the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. I found it excellent.

If you want to watch it, it's on youtube - 90 minutes long:

Edited to add: The documentary is narrated by Scott Glenn, who pronounces Gemini "Jeh-mih-nye"; however, NASA's official pronunciation is "Jeh-mih-nee". Scott Glenn played Alan Shepard in "The Right Stuff".

#10

John Thomas8 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2024 6:34 pm I'm saddened thinking about that "what might have been".

#11

Also the 'true' story about how the cameras were thought up is told in the movie "Fly Me To The Moon", in a theatre near you now.

RTH10260 · #12

tsk tsk tsk ... and nobody speaks about the moon landing hoax and the real thing being filmed in a Arizona / New Mexico / California desert

*** ducks and runs ***

#13

RTH10260 · #14

BUT... But... but... the prevailing winds on that day ....

#15

Yeah, he's looking at it and thinking, "Awful windy today, out here in the Arizona desert."

#16

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 6:29 am tsk tsk tsk ... and nobody speaks about the moon landing hoax and the real thing being filmed in a Arizona / New Mexico / California desert

*** ducks and runs ***

Yeah its all explained in the movie I mentioned above "Fly Me To The Moon". It was filmed in Cape Canaveral by Woody Harrelson and Scarlet Johansen.