40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

iceman (Mike) · #1 19-05-2009, 07:44 AM

July 20th, 2009 (July 21 in Australia) marks the 40th Anniversary since the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. Almost anyone alive at the time will be able to tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing, the moment that Apollo 11 Commander, Neil Armstrong, first stepped onto the Moon and spoke those now immortal words:

Quote:

"One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind".

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary, I've written an article which takes us through the Apollo 11 journey with some background, highlights and incredible images.

40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

I'd love to hear about your memories and experiences of Apollo 11.

Lester · #2 19-05-2009, 08:47 AM

Wonderfully done Mike.

I enjoyed reading and reliving the historic moment.

I was in grade 7 at the time, our class walked to the teachers house to see Neil step onto the Moon on a black and white television.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #3 19-05-2009, 09:00 AM

Great stuff Mike.

I was 7 at the time, and was in Mrs Browns 1st Grade (called 1st Class back then) at Castle Cove Primary School in Sydney. I recall that every classroom had a TV, and we all sat there enthralled by the event. The boys goggled at the screen while the girls (all girls had germs back then) giggled and made noise at the back of the class. Darn women!!! LOL!!!

Changed me forever. It was a distinct turning point that I vividly remember.

multiweb (Marc) · #4 19-05-2009, 09:07 AM

Cool article Mike. Thanks for sharing all your hard work.

Dennis · #5 19-05-2009, 09:31 AM

Nice write up Mike – thanks!

We didn’t have a TV at the time, so I watched the live broadcast on the B&W TV of the local milkman who I helped on the weekends and in my school holidays. I was astonished that he and his wife didn’t stay up to watch this historic event.

From memory, in the UK, the BBC and ITV Apollo 11 broadcasts started just before midnight on Sunday, 20th July with live images of Armstrong’s walk appearing just before 4:00am on Monday, 21st July. I vividly remember being glued to the TV, absolutely enthralled that I was witnessing this incredible event, of men walking on another solar system body, our Moon.

I rushed home afterwards and simulated the mission and lunar landing with my Airfix kit models of the Saturn V rocket and the Lunar Excursion Module.

Cheers

Dennis

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #6 19-05-2009, 09:40 AM

I was 6 at the time, in grade 1.
We were lined up in pairs and walked across the road to another students house.
They sat us on the lounge room floor, gave us all a glass of cordial and we watched it on a black and white tv.
I don't know about the others, but I was enthralled.
Reckon the affects are still with me.

Robh (Rob) · #7 19-05-2009, 10:50 AM

Thanks Mike,
Great piece of nostalgia.
I remember watching the live, black and white, coverage on TV.
It was a monumental achievement. The Apollo 11 craft was the first to use bleeding edge Integrated Circuit technology. The guidance and navigation computer had no disk drive, 74 kilobytes of fixed memory (programs in ROM) and about 4 kilobytes of something like RAM!

Regards, Rob.

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #8 19-05-2009, 10:54 AM

Yes, it was all based on ferrite core memory, which was found to be the most impervious to expected gamma and other radiation. It was also non-volatile, in that once polarised, a core doughnut stayed charged the way it was set - very useful in power-loss conditions.

A good article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_core_memory

leon · #9 19-05-2009, 01:29 PM

Good stuff Mike, I still have original news papers of this event, it certainly was a special occasion.

Leon

Jen · #10 19-05-2009, 06:06 PM

Thanks Mike was a good read for us young ones that unfortunately wern't around for that awsome event

astro_nutt · #11 20-05-2009, 10:02 AM

Many thanks again Mike,
I was 9 at the time in the 4th grade of St Marks School in Fawnker..we had about 4 classes huddled together to watch the Moonwalk..(we had also watched the launch)..not a sound was heard as we saw Neil Armstrong make his way down to the Lunar surface..I can still remember some of the teachers crying..and others praying for their safe return..40 years on I'm still in awe of how such skills were used at the time to accomplish this..and the courage and sacrifices given by others..

Paul Haese · #12 20-05-2009, 06:49 PM

I was five and I was lucky to watch it on our first TV with all my school mates.

John Sarkissen gave a great talk on the role of Parkes in the event. There are many misnomers according to him and Parkes was very lucky to pick up the signal even with the feed rotator moved right around. That is because of the telescopes horizon being 27 degrees with the feed rotator at its lowest.

Hoping to see the second lot of landings, that will make it twice for me. Mind you the picture was pretty terrible as I recall. It was really contrasted and hard to see what was really going on. With any luck this lot of landings will be in HD. Only 12 year to wait.

TrevorW · #13 20-05-2009, 07:37 PM

One of the most exciting days of my teenage school years

stephenb (Stephen) · #14 20-05-2009, 08:10 PM

One of my long time interests is the US space program.

The famous image of Buzz's footprint (shown in Mike's article), is explained by Eric Jones and John Kaufmann:

"About an hour aftrer Neil first stepped onto the lunar surface, Buzz did a little experiement for the soil mechanics experts back home. He selected a pristine patch of soil, photographed it, made this footprint, and then took two photos of it, stepping to his left between frames. Some people assume that this is the first footprint. Neil did not have a camera at the time he made his "one small step" and that first footprint was soon obliterated during the minutes Neil spent near the ladder adapting to the new environment. "

Some of my favorite Gemini/Apollo websites for people to look at are:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11j.html

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/surface/

MrB (Simon) · #15 20-05-2009, 08:37 PM

I was -6 at the time so missed the whole thing.
I do have a few front pages from newspapers though, were given to me by an elderly neighbour many years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by redesford

"..... and then took two photos of it, stepping to his left between frames. "

I'm assuming this was for stereography?
Is there anywhere online that has both images?

AstroJunk (Jonathan) · #16 20-05-2009, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennis

From memory, in the UK, the BBC and ITV Apollo 11 broadcasts started just before midnight on Sunday, 20th July with live images of Armstrong’s walk appearing just before 4:00am on Monday, 21st July. I vividly remember being glued to the TV, absolutely enthralled that I was witnessing this incredible event, of men walking on another solar system body, our Moon.

I was four at the time. My big brothers forced me up to watch the event. I distinctly remember them explaining to me why I should be interested. I wasn't...

...I am now!

Neil · #17 21-05-2009, 10:20 PM

Well I was 14 at the time, and as I posted on an earlier thread we were in a extended classroom, by virtue of a series of concertina walls creating a minor auditorium.Transfixed by the image before us in glorious black and white(because it all we had then) The feeling in that room inspired a generation, perhaps a unique time in history, and then it was lost for so many years.Now its happening again, dont let it slip.By that I mean support,encourage& vote for the exploration of our solar system and beyond,our existance depends on it.

DavidU (Dave) · #18 21-05-2009, 10:36 PM

I was in grade 6 (about 11yo) in a school hall with 300 other kids watching a B&W TV placed on the stage.! I was hooked on all things in space since. By the way, about a year later I was the first ( as far as I know) Aussie to hold some moon rock in my hand. The moon rock samples were to be picked up from Clayton by the Monash Geo team( Prof F.Beavis from memory). Needless to say I was thrilled.

Phoenix (Steve) · #19 22-05-2009, 09:00 PM

Nice Review Mike - like others, it was an amazing time in my childhood.

For those who haven't read it, one of my all time favourite reads is the only authorised biography of Neil Armstrong's life by James R Hansen, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong - an amazing book. Along with Chaikin's A Man on The Moon... I simply could not put these books down. Do your self a favour.....

Thanks again Mike - here's to the next 40 year!

Cheers
Steve

Dujon · #20 25-05-2009, 09:20 AM

Thanks for the article, and the memories, Mike.

Yes, I too remember exactly where I was as that famous garbled message was relayed to Earth. I was standing in front of a television set that had been set up about eight feet off the floor of the Myer department store in Gordon, N.S.W.. At that time I worked for the Rural Bank and the branch at which I was stationed was directly opposite the Myer store on the Pacific Highway.

The excuse I made to get out of the place for a bit I cannot recall, but whatever it was it worked. I am also sure that I spent much longer in absentia than I should have. No one complained.

What surprised me at the time though was that of the shoppers in the store - and like most large department stores at any time there was quite a number - only about a dozen people gathered around to watch those ghostly images. Perhaps those who were interested stayed at home, I have no idea.