Going home

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The accumulation of small steps...

Is what drives humanity forwards. May we never step backwards.

Apollo 11 One Small Step
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You got a bunch o'guys about to turn blue.

We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.

Apollo 11 - Touchdown and Radio Transcript


I can never hope to express my original feelings about this event. I was young and impressionable true, but I was well aware of earlier space missions. Nothing though, nothing before, ever had this intensity. This compulsion. Watching the TV transfixed for hours. I didn't really understand but I somehow knew I was seeing an Earth changing moment.

I had similar feelings when the Berlin wall fell, and when Nelson Mandela walked from Victor Verster Prison. You can feel the importance. But Apollo 11 was far more than that. Much more than the petty squabbles of politics or religion.

However, for humankind to be able to accomplish such amazing achievements does take politics. In some ways it involves religion, an age-old inspiration to the human mind, but then science pisses on them both.

Apollo 11 - baby's first step into the unknown. Grow into these trousers... >>

Re-live the 1st Moon landing

Take a small step over to We Choose The Moon for a real time animation of the Apollo 11 mission, overlaid with the radio communications as they would have happened. Or listen to hours of static because, just now (then) they are (would have been) simply coasting along between the Moon and the Earth. It will get more exciting!

In the meantime there's a ton of photos and videos to see.

Note: It's a great site but it's very, very Flash intensive and slow to load. If you follow the link and think your 'puter has hung, be patient. Once it has loaded, it's fine. Grow into these trousers... >>

40 years ago today

I was 13.


Visit The Big Picture for lots more images from the Apollo 11 mission.

As You Remember It: The Lift-Off of APOLLO 11
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Not the most noteworthy anniversary, the 39th...

Sort of ruby-1, worth celebrating though.


HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON
JULY 1969 A.D.
WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND
(Photo credit NASA)


July 16, 1969
13:32:00 UT (09:32 a.m. EDT) Kennedy Space Center


July 20, 1969
20:17:40 UT (4:17:40 p.m. EDT)


July 21, 1969
02:56:15 UT (10:56:15 p.m. EDT July 20, 1969)


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Cool video - Moon transits Earth

From the viewpoint of the Epoxi spacecraft.
Not sure of the distance but it's a long look back.
31 million miles away.

For more insight see the BA. Grow into these trousers... >>