The Saint
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Post by The Saint on Jul 20, 2019 20:06:48 GMT
It's 50 years ago today that Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong took those famous first steps. I have always been fascinated by the moon landing and have must have watched about a dozen programmes related to Apollo 11 over the last week or so. It seemed such a special time, when anything was possible. Some interesting information and photos can be found here: The Atlantic - Apollo 11 ArticleThe Saint
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Jul 21, 2019 11:21:03 GMT
Thanks for the link Saint I love all this stuff and if anyone visits Florida I recommend a visit to Cape Canaveral. They have a fantastic museum. Highlights include a Saturn Five rocket, Space Shuttle Atlantis and my personal favourite the Space Launch Simulator. Some people still think they didn't go there in 1969! They never mention the other five times there were landed missions on the moon which followed over the next three years.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jul 21, 2019 12:22:34 GMT
I remember it at the time as a 9 year old and I have always found the 1960s space race interesting. The whole thing stemmed from captured German V2 rockets at the end of the war. Basically, after the first World War, the Germans were banned from having large artillery guns, but the ban didn't say anything about rockets or missiles, so they started to develop these and established a huge lead over everyone else.
After the war, their testing and manufacturing sites at Peenemunde and Nordhausen, were due to be in the Russian zone, but the Americans (with German aid, and a few days before the surrender) loaded all they could find onto trucks and shipped them all to the USA where the Saturn five project was started. The Russians also got quite a bit of stuff too, and they actually had an early lead, with their satellite and they also got a man into space first.
Very interesting period the late 60s, and another memory is Apollo 13, which was a near disaster. The film about it, with Tom Hanks I think is excellent.
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on Jul 22, 2019 17:30:08 GMT
It is quite a major piece of history, I remember watching a documentary with my dad in July 1979, on the 10th anniversary which I found very interesting, and although it cancelled that weeks edition of "Chips"....... it made a nice change, and was also fascinating seeing how the astronauts lived for those days they were up there.
I've also seen another 2 or 3 part documentary on the space race in recent years, after WW2 ended and how the Americans and Russians between them recruited former German engineers to help develop the rockets etc into the 50's and beyond; quite a bit of it was dramatized with actors.
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Post by Sam Tyler on Jul 22, 2019 19:03:01 GMT
Like Carty I remember it happening although I was only 7 years old at the time. We used to watch the mission updates were on the early evening news as well as the programs that were being presented by James Burke at the time.
To this day I can remember being sat at the kitchen table and watching those first steps as they were reported. It must have been the following Christmas that I received an Airfix model of the Lunar Module complete with its 'moon surface' base, a kit that was hastily put together, left unpainted and resplendent with prominent gluey fingerprints such was the desire to have it built and complete.
Sam.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Jul 22, 2019 20:35:09 GMT
I remember it at the time as a 9 year old and I have always found the 1960s space race interesting. The whole thing stemmed from captured German V2 rockets at the end of the war. Basically, after the first World War, the Germans were banned from having large artillery guns, but the ban didn't say anything about rockets or missiles, so they started to develop these and established a huge lead over everyone else. After the war, their testing and manufacturing sites at Peenemunde and Nordhausen, were due to be in the Russian zone, but the Americans (with German aid, and a few days before the surrender) loaded all they could find onto trucks and shipped them all to the USA where the Saturn five project was started. The Russians also got quite a bit of stuff too, and they actually had an early lead, with their satellite and they also got a man into space first. Very interesting period the late 60s, and another memory is Apollo 13, which was a near disaster. The film about it, with Tom Hanks I think is excellent. Indeed, it was a bit of vanity project by Hitler, they could never had made enough V1 and V2 to affect the war effort and they were never accurate enough, for example they couldn't target the Normandy beaches in '44 (with V1). The resources they expended making them would have been better used on conventional technology, jets etc. My Dad lived in Hull and he said you could see the vapour trails of V2's taking off from Holland across the North Sea in late '44. A fascinating project was Apollo, great technology and team effort. In terms of was it the greatest effort by one (or three) men I'd say not. I'm always more impressed by Shackleton's Antarctic trip and rescue of his men, incredible seamanship and dedication in getting them back all alive. I do love the Apollo stuff though, my wife's going to leave me if I watch anymore programmes about it!
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Jul 22, 2019 20:59:05 GMT
Like Carty I remember it happening although I was only 7 years old at the time. We used to watch the mission updates were on the early evening news as well as the programs that were being presented by James Burke at the time. To this day I can remember being sat at the kitchen table and watching those first steps as they were reported. It must have been the following Christmas that I received an Airfix model of the Lunar Module complete with its 'moon surface' base, a kit that was hastily put together, left unpainted and resplendent with prominent gluey fingerprints such was the desire to have it built and complete. Sam. I had to have my appendix removed in '71 and Dad bought the Airfix Saturn 5 kit! After the operation. Really enjoyed making those kits, fancy making one again.
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The Saint
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Post by The Saint on Jul 27, 2019 17:53:28 GMT
Fascinating interview with Neil Armstrong from 2011, just a year before his death.
The Saint
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Jul 27, 2019 20:29:18 GMT
Fascinating interview with Neil Armstrong from 2011, just a year before his death. The Saint I read somewhere he didn't believe in physical exercise, he thought you had a certain number of heartbeats so don't waste them. Bit similar to you having a certain number of pints to get through. Think I've fallen behind.
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Post by Windy Miller on Jul 31, 2019 13:23:44 GMT
Landing on the Moon is still Man's greatest achievement. To relive the drama of the actual Moon landing, and for a deep dive into the terminology that Mission Control and NASA used, this link is the best:- www.firstmenonthemoon.com/
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