I convinced Mum I was too sick that Monday to go to school (I was 15)I wanted to watch the complete coverage from 9am on TV.
I was glued all day to the screen and watched till the coverage finished, I think around 5 - 6pm.
I can't remember if it was that day or during one of the other Apollo missions, where I took my tiny 40mm telescope and looked at the Moon, knowing without doubt, humans were on it, there WAS life on another planet.
The following day at school the Teacher called me to his desk and looked at me menacingly. He asked me one question, he said; "Ï don't care that you were off sick yesterday, I just want to know one thing; did you watch the Moon landing?!"
I beamed and replied Yes Sir!
He smiled contentedly and waved me back to my desk.
I still have the original 1969 Sydney Morning Hearald Apollo 11 souvenirs and have since met 3 of the Apollo moonwalkers.
I look forward to the time when we can once again look at the Moon through our eyepieces and know people are there....
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
Steve, I wholeheartedly agree. I have First Man in audio book as well as hardback.
As I've mentioned in another thread, the other books I strongly recommend are:
Carrying the Fire - Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Command Pilot Lift Off - Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Command Pilot Failure is Not an Option - Gene Krantz, Apollo Flight Director Last Man on the Moon - Gene Cernan, Apollo 17 Astronaut Moonwalker - Charlie Duke, Apollo 16 LM Pilot
And Buzz Aldrin's autobiography to be released next month.
I was in 2nd class in '69; I was an absolute space nut! Raised by my grandparents, they were very encouraging with all things especially to do with space and flight. In 1968 they bought me this Moon Globe, which my Grandmom found in Waltons (remember them?) at Bankstown for the sum of $26 (Originally marked as $150, and even $26 was HUGE in 1968!). Don't know how they could afford it! I still have this, sits proudly on my desk at home; it glows in the dark too! The surface is moulded and textured to scale and we still use it at home for Moon observation nights! They used a globe identical to this on the broadcast when describing the trip (might have been Walter Kronkite I think!) and again for Apollo 13.
That is one amazing moon globe Rick - very nice indeed!
Thanks for the heads-up on the other Apollo books Stephen. I am familiar with some of these and your post is a timely reminder to seek them out for a good read on a cloudy night as we approach Apollo's 40th Anniversary.
I was 5 at the time... I remember trooping into the local school hall along with other pre-schoolers to watch the event on a black and white TV... I also remember looking at the moon that night and being disappointed when I couldn't see the spacecraft up there! I had no sense of scale back then
I know where I was July 20, but i dont remember anything.
I was in a warm wet place insulated from the big bad world kicking back being waited on hand and foot, but tube fed.
I was T-18 days.
I was born Aug 7 1969 so the excitement was starting to simmer down as a new scientific marvel had taken centre stage
Yes, I remember it too - another primary schooler. We were all taken to the school library to watch it in B&W. Wasnt into Space stuff at the time, but did enjoy it
I was 11 and we were taken to the large kindergarden room where the TV was set up. Of course it was interesting but it was also (to us kids) incredibly slow. We seemed to sit and look at the ladder for hours before anything happened. And the picture quality was, even by the standard of the time, very poor. My wife remembers teachers making jokes etc to keep the kids focussed. ("Oh! Look. Is that a moon monster?")
Despite that, it must have affected me. The following year I won a book prize and I had a choice of 'Secrets of the Sky' and 'Secrets of the Earth'. I chose the former and still have it. By 14 I had joined an astronomy club and the rest is history.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidU
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.
Sorry to be a party pooper but I know that there was an Australian geologist, Bruce Chappell, on the team in America that worked on the moon rocks returned by the Apollo missions. I imagine he would have had his hands on them before any material was sent to Australia. Bruce is an expert in XRF spectroscopy which would have been used to determine the elemental composition of the rocks. He is a visiting fellow here at Wollongong and has commented on how distinctive the moon rocks are; they even look quite different to terrestial rocks.
I am currently "Grey Nomadding" in the Kimberley area of Australia. Today I managed to get online to Ice-In-Space and read the Thread re the 40th Anniversary of the first Lunar Landing. I thought I would add my thoughts.
When Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon, I was working at the NASA Carnarvon Tracking Station processing live computer data from the Command Service Module (CSM) and Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) and monitoring live TV from the moon. In retrospect, what a blast!! Although, at the time it all seemed fairly routine and part of the day to day work.
That period is the highlight and most exciting chapter of my working life.
That the lunar landings were successfully accomplishished with such relatively primative technology is testament to the dedication and skills of the many thousands of people worldwide involved in the Apollo program.
We, (the Ex-Trackers) continue to celebrate this great event with a Reunion/Dinner around 20th July every 5th Year. The 40th Anniversary is next month.
I am currently "Grey Nomadding" in the Kimberley area of Australia. Today I managed to get online to Ice-In-Space and read the Thread re the 40th Anniversary of the first Lunar Landing. I thought I would add my thoughts.
When Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon, I was working at the NASA Carnarvon Tracking Station processing live computer data from the Command Service Module (CSM) and Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) and monitoring live TV from the moon. In retrospect, what a blast!! Although, at the time it all seemed fairly routine and part of the day to day work.
That period is the highlight and most exciting chapter of my working life.
That the lunar landings were successfully accomplishished with such relatively primative technology is testament to the dedication and skills of the many thousands of people worldwide involved in the Apollo program.
We, (the Ex-Trackers) continue to celebrate this great event with a Reunion/Dinner around 20th July every 5th Year. The 40th Anniversary is next month.
Hi John wow what an awsome job you must have had you lucky bugger Say gday to all the crew for us in July hahaha
For those of us in Melbourne, the ASV have a talk about the landing at the monthly meeting on 8th July at the Herbarium 8pm, so you might like to come along. I am sure other societies will have similar talks.
40th Moon Landing Anniversary Celebrations in Canberra 19th - 22nd July 2009
Mike,
an excellent overview of the background and landing ... where did the last 40 years go ...?
In July 69 I had just finished my A levels in pommy land and was having the proverbial Summer of 69 as per the song prior to going to Uni to study ... and eventually ended up with a degree in Electronic Engineering .... After having been exposed to several years of the original Star-trek series since 66 , Stanley Kubrick's 2001 in 68 with my teenage years spent avidly reading the SF of A.C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein et al - I must admit with the impatience of youth that I was somewhat underwhelmed at the time with the crude looking Apollo Command Module and Lunar lander ....tho' still quite impressed with the Saturn V launcher. However I still remember sitting with the rest of the family watching the landing live on TV and the goose-bumps as Armstrong took his famous step, wondering all the while if he would disappear into unknown depths of moondust .... Only on looking back on those heady days can one appreciate the enormity of the achievement of the Apollo missions ... and wonder where we lost the drive to continue on to Mars by the early 80s ....
I found on the international year of astronomy website details of a series of celebrations in Canberra to which all are invited to mark the 40th anniversary of the Moon Landing Sun 19 to Wed 22 July - see
"Realistically this will be the last reunion and celebration organised and attended by many of the people who took an active part in the moon landing project. I'm hopeful that I will make the 50th anniversary in 2019 (with luck I may not even need that Zimmer frame), but I will not be organising it!
So we plan to make the 40th the biggest and best of all.
This year we are having a 4 day event. We are inviting everyone who participated in Apollo, anyone who worked (or still works) at any of the Space tracking stations and other related organisations, anyone interested in Apollo and any of their children, Grand children and friends. That should cover just about everyone {:-)) ...
all events except the main event (Lunch on the 21st) are FREE! "
A couple of interesting resources on the Apollo missions are
2. and "Live From The Moon: The Story of Apollo Television" - a film which will be pre-viewed on day 4 of the celebration in Canberra - this will be available in HD Blu-Ray see
Hi John wow what an awsome job you must have had 
Say gday to all the crew for us in July hahaha 
