Thoughts On Apollo 11

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Fred22

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I have very much enjoyed the threads that deal with Apollo 11 and it's legacy. I think Apollo 11 was one of the few good things that came out of the monstrous waste of resources called the cold war. It inspired me as a child and gives me hope to this day that mankind is capable of incredible achievements. If Apollo 11 was a memorable event for you or inspired you somehow maybe you could place your thoughts here :)
Marc Garneau was the first canadian in space and here are his thoughts on how Apollo11 changed things for him:)
https://www.cbc.ca/video/popup_nlp....8752/news/features/garneau-memories090716.wmv
I cannot express my respect enough for people like him and all the folks at the various space agencies who have given us this incredible memory from the past and strive to keep it going now and into the future.
Canada also made some contributions to the Apollo program. The LEM was designed by a canadian and the legs were made here as well. I am glad our country made a contribution,albeit a small one, to such an incredible effort :)
https://www.torontosun.com/news/can...html#/news/canada/2009/07/17/pf-10171611.html
Cheers
Fred
 
Let's not forget all of the unsung engineers that worked at AVRO designing the Arrow and were summarily let go without warning by Prime Minister Diefenbacker.

They quickly found jobs in Florida, Alabama and elswhere around the U.S. working for NASA and NASA subcontractors.

Without their help there probably wouldn't have been an Apollo 11.

Thanks Canada.
 
I think for all kids old enough to understand the significance of the entire Apollo Program it changed our lives and outlooks like no other event in history.
The photo of the earth from Apollo 11 is IMO the most recognized and reproduced photo in history.

My 2 cents
 
I think for all kids old enough to understand the significance of the entire Apollo Program it changed our lives and outlooks like no other event in history.
The photo of the earth from Apollo 11 is IMO the most recognized and reproduced photo in history.

My 2 cents

Are you speaking of this one (Apollo 8)? or this one (Apollo 11)?

Doesn't matter really..all are inspiring aren't they? :D

skyimage_2059_93467242[1].jpg

spaceimages_2063_121774[1].jpg
 
Are you speaking of this one (Apollo 8)? or this one (Apollo 11)?

Doesn't matter really..all are inspiring aren't they? :D

I think the second one was available (not cheap) as a multipiece wall mural 8' high and maybe 8' or more wide.

Wish that was still available.

Or maybe it is!

Anybody know?
 
Speaking of Canadian hardware contributions to the Apollo Program, I was at the opening of the new gallery at the Saturn V center at KSC (see https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=4684) and I believe Al Worden, Apollo 15 CM pilot mentioned a Canadian arm that was attached to the service module that had a mass spectrometer on it. The idea was that if there was any molecular material around the moon it pick it up for analysis, well after a few orbits of being turned on people on the ground got all excited because they started getting info back, then they got very confused, because chemically the data was very similar to human urine. Houston called up to Worden and he said [paraphrase] oh yeah there was a urine dump a few orbits before we switched it on.

Wish I could have seen a Saturn launch, after see the shuttles, I know recordings don't come close, even from miles away.
 
I've often lamented to my wife (who turned one year old two days after the Apollo 11 landing) how sad it is that the best days in our country's history occurred just before I was born (which was 3 years later). It's been downhill ever since...

Whatever happened to the United States... sad... Look at what we are now...

JMHO! OL JR :)
 
I've often lamented to my wife (who turned one year old two days after the Apollo 11 landing) how sad it is that the best days in our country's history occurred just before I was born (which was 3 years later). It's been downhill ever since...

Whatever happened to the United States... sad... Look at what we are now...

JMHO! OL JR :)
I think your country has endless potential :) Look at some of the fine folks around here :) I would also like to thank folks for the kind words about my country.
Fred
 
I think your country has endless potential :) Look at some of the fine folks around here :) I would also like to thank folks for the kind words about my country.
Fred

Canada is just a nice place.

Maybe our legislature would be improve if they could stomp their feet once in a while.:D

I allways loved that part of the Canadian Parlament.
 
Canada is just a nice place.

Maybe our legislature would be improve if they could stomp their feet once in a while.:D

I allways loved that part of the Canadian Parlament.
Me too. Clog dancing at the highest level :p
Cheers
fred
 
Talk of the Nation: Science Friday on NPR spent a whole hour yesterday talking about Apollo 11 with Alan Bean and Harrison Schmitt, along with Andrew Chaikin. Wonderful show, and if you missed it, you can download the podcast from iTunes.

One of the points they made was that the real problem with the Apollo program was that it was a space race rather than a pure science (or even military science) program. Once we "won", everyone lost interest and moved on to other things.
 
I think the second one was available (not cheap) as a multipiece wall mural 8' high and maybe 8' or more wide.

Wish that was still available.

Or maybe it is!

Anybody know?

I think I still have one stashed in a closet.
 
Landing Man on the Moon is our greatest achievement. Long after the Great Wall has fallen over, long after the Pyramids have eroded to dust there will be manufactured metallic objects on several bodies in the solar system. On one of these there will be several sets of impressions pressed into the surface dirt that record the movement of humans around some metal objects, the six bases of the LM's and the experiments. There is no air nor liquid water on the Moon and only the occasional meteor strike or quake could possibly distrub them. After a million years these footprints of twelve men will still survive.
 
Landing Man on the Moon is our greatest achievement. Long after the Great Wall has fallen over, long after the Pyramids have eroded to dust there will be manufactured metallic objects on several bodies in the solar system. On one of these there will be several sets of impressions pressed into the surface dirt that record the movement of humans around some metal objects, the six bases of the LM's and the experiments. There is no air nor liquid water on the Moon and only the occasional meteor strike or quake could possibly distrub them. After a million years these footprints of twelve men will still survive.
Good points all :)
Cheers
fred
 
Here's a thread from the past!

I spent part of my morning on Saturday having breakfast with a good friend of mine who has had interest in Space and NASA for the past several years. We got to talking about the Space program back in the 60's which led to man walking on the moon and the whole conversation really got me thinking about it even more. I wasn't born for another 8 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing so it was plenty before my time but I couldn't get out of my head the concept of putting men in a rocket and flying it into space and what must have been going through those three astronauts minds as they were descending on the moon for the first time in history. Not to mention all the engineering that went into designing and building the Saturn V (and like vessels) to even make it possible. So for the first time in my 35 years of existence I took a few minutes to do a little research on the mission... I actually laid in bed last night for about 2 hours on my IPhone (while my wife was sleeping next to me) just absolutely intrigued by what I was reading. I never gave much thought before to the Space programs but now I want to know everything about it as it was something unprecedented at that time.

Ever wish you could hop in a time machine and go back to July 16, 1969...
 
I never gave much thought before to the Space programs but now I want to know everything about it as it was something unprecedented at that time.

Try reading Andrew Chaiken's book A Man on The Moon. It's an excellent account of the US manned space program and was the basis for the "From The Earth to the Moon" TV series (which I also highly recommend).

-- Roger
 
Chaiken's book is pretty good.

One of the best all-around books I've read on the Apollo Program (and I've read a lot of them) is curiously called, Apollo by Charles Murray.

One of the best books from the flight hardware side of things it Roger Bilstein's Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles. If you like the complexity of launch vehicles, you'll love this book.

One of the best books from an astronaut's perspective from this era is Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys, by Michael Collins. This book was a bit of a sleeper and I almost didn't bother reading it. That would have been a big mistake. Collins' voice really comes through through his narrative and he really (ok, figuratively speaking) takes you with him on his journey.

From all the reading I've done, the achievement was as much political as it was technical. There was enough confluence of right people at the right place at the right time to make it all happen.

Contrast that to now. There are no manned-rated launch vehicles at all that have "USA" or "UNITED STATES" or Old Glory emblazoned upon the side.

Greg



Waiting for the day when we hear the words again from KSC: "Close and lock visors and initiate O2 flow."
 
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I have very much enjoyed the threads that deal with Apollo 11 and it's legacy. I think Apollo 11 was one of the few good things that came out of the monstrous waste of resources called the cold war. It inspired me as a child and gives me hope to this day that mankind is capable of incredible achievements. If Apollo 11 was a memorable event for you or inspired you somehow maybe you could place your thoughts here :)

In July of 1969 I was about 11 years old, and totally enthralled with the American space program. I watched as many of the flight broadcasts as I could (Walter Cronkite on CBS, courtesy of the CBC I think) and was absolutely glued to the tube for the Apollo 11 landing and the first lunar EVA. Even now, thinking about it all brings back the chills of excitement I felt at the time.

In the days and months that followed I devoured every book I could find on the subject, books such as "Appointment On The Moon", "We Reach The Moon", "First On The Moon" and even Norman Mailer's "Of A Fire On The Moon". But my favourite resource was a Time-Life Records collection called "To The Moon", a six record set with accompanying book that profiled the human and technical drama of the quest for space from the very earliest days right up to the first lunar landing. I practically wore those records out listening to them over and over again, laughing at the antics of "Chief Astronaut" José Jimenez on the ground, and listening spell bound to the dramatic reading of Scripture from far beyond LEO.

I also remember being captivated by the compelling power of the "We choose to go to the moon" speech. Looking back on it all now, so many decades later, I am still utterly amazed that in the midst of everything that was going on in and around America at the time, the President was able to forge such a compelling vision for the nation. Those were heady days! And I have EVERY confidence that America will regain her foothold in manned space exploration in the years that come!!
 
Chaiken's book is pretty good.

One of the best all-around books I've read on the Apollo Program (and I've read a lot of them) is curiously called, Apollo by Charles Murray.

+1 for Apollo.

I love a comment in the forward to the 2004 edition, they mention something that happened when Ron Howard was shooting the Apollo 13 movie regarding why the flight controllers' consoles have color. "Jerry Bostick, a flight operations veteran who was acting as a technical adviser, explained to Howard that he should show the flight controllers looking at black screens filled with columns of white numbers. Howard replied that there are some things than an audience just won't accept, and computer displays as incomprehensible as Bostick described are one of those things."
 
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Ever wish you could hop in a time machine and go back to July 16, 1969...

While the space program was a highlight I'd never want to go back to 1969. I remember seeing that green sedan pull up in front of my neighbor's house to bring them the news that their son had be killed in Vietnam. :cry: Even though I was 9 years old I understood what had happened and it put a real damper on watching them walk on the moon that evening.

If you have the chance spend some time digging around NASA’s history site at https://history.nasa.gov/, there are some very interesting articles there on the entire space program. Like the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal at https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/main.html. It details what happened on each lunar landing, has transcripts of the ground to vehicle communications, details of the landing area, details of the deployment of experiments, photos and videos. It can be a bit dense but some of the information is quite interesting.

Some of my favorites:
The Apollo Program (Links to all things Apollo on NASA’s website) https://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/apollo.html

On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/toc.htm

Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974 https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt1.pdf & https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt2.pdf
 
Here's a thread from the past!

Ever wish you could hop in a time machine and go back to July 16, 1969...
Nothing in my life will ever replace the memory of the first Landing. We had just arrived back in California and the evening was crystal clear and warm. The moon was full and you felt with the right 'scope you could see them up there. I stepped outside during the broadcast and can't describe the feelings of pride, awe and wonder we (human beings) had achieved at that moment.
(Oh Yeah! '69 Mach 1, '64 (!) Mustang, '65 Alpine Tiger, '63 Spitfire. Yeah I'd go back in a heartbeat! And I'd KEEP them all! dang it!)
 
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