Neil Armstrong RIP.

Some thoughts on the passing of a boyhood hero and the memories that that provokes.

My AudioBoo: http://audioboo.fm/boos/933933-rip-neil-armstrong

Apollo 11 Timeline: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_11i_Timeline.htm

Books mentioned:
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
A Man On The Moon by Andrew Chaikin
Moondust by Andrew Smith

It Was 50 Years Ago Today.....

.....that John Glenn went into space for the first time.

I heard this mentioned on BBC radio this morning and then came across this video.
The opening words of the commentary to this video are "This is the moment that the USA entered the space race".
All very good, except that it wasn't.

I'm sure we all know that the first person into space was Yuri Gagarin, on 12th April 1961. But, so many seem not to know that the second person into space and the first American, was actually Alan Shepard. His first mission took place on 5th May 1961. Nearly a year before John Glenn's first flight.

Alan Shepard, like Glenn, was one of the original NASA astronauts. All of whom were later immortalised by Tom Wolfe and Hollywood in 'The Right Stuff'.
Shepard later commanded the Apollo 14 mission to the Moon and was the fifth person to ever walk on the surface. Something John Glenn never did. He is probably best remembered for playing golf during a moonwalk.

I am in no way trying to diminish the undoubted achievements of John Glenn. After all, he later became the oldest man into space when he flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1998. He was 77 years old at the time!

No, what annoys me about this is that Alan Shepard seems to have been left out. I can't remember any news items, or videos when the anniversary of his first space flight came around. I certainly remember Yuri Gagarin's flight being, quite rightfully, commemorated.

So, why has Alan Shepard become the forgotten man of space history?
Maybe, it's because he died in 1998, of leukemia and also because he wasn't a very high profile character during his later life?
John Glenn on the other hand, famously became a U.S Senator for 25 years and of course went back into space in 1998.
John Glenn, thankfully, is still alive and kicking today and therefore available to talk about his past exploits.

They say that death is a great career move. But it seems that this only works if you're a pop star, or an actor/actress. It obviously doesn't apply to astronauts.

The next few years will bring a whole host of 50th anniversaries. After all, the 1960's were a time of great change and produced many momentous events and memories.

Two immediately spring to mind, one more for 2012 and one for 2013.
1 - The Beatles first single "Love Me Do" was released on 5th October 1962 and
2 - President John F. Kennedy was assasinated, in Dallas, on 22nd November 1963.

I have a funny feeling that those particular anniversaries and the people involved, will be well remembered.
And quite rightly too.

Thanks for the memories.

AudioBoo - All The Small Things

Talking about simulated space missions and the little things in life.

Now, this really does make me feel old.

Today, is the 41st anniversary of man first walking on the surface of the moon.
Yes, i realise that if you live in different parts of the world, this may well have happened for you on July 20th.  This does raise the question as to what time it was on the moon at the time? Do they have time zones up there?

I mentioned in another recent blog post about how this event was one of those that everybody who was alive at the time remembers. It really was one of those momentous occasions when the whole world was watching and which brought the whole world together.

I was 11 years of age at the time and remember the occasion very well.
I have always had an interest in astronomy & space travel. So, this was a big deal for me. I had followed as many of the Apollo missions as my age enabled me to. I can remember those pictures of the earthrise coming back from the Apollo 8 mission and the effect that that had on everybody. It was, after all, the first time that the earth had been viewed, by us ordinary mortals, from space. Those pictures are still as amazing to me as they have always been.

On the morning of July 21st, 1969 i was woken by my father so that we could sit down and watch Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin make their first steps on the lunar surface. We had, of course, been watching hours earlier as the lunar module had made it's descent down to the moon.
It was around 4am in the UK at the time. So, this was not a normal wake up call and i can't imagine my father letting me sit up and watch tv, at that time of day, for anything other than an occasion such as this.
Looking back at those old black & white tv clips of the footage, it really does seem a world away from today. But, those tv pictures were true space age technology to us back then and were viewed with a real sense of wonder.
At it happens, i don't really remember that much about actually watching the footage at the time. More about the occasion itself. The details have probably been lost in the mists of time. Well, it was 41 years ago.

Those 41 years have really flown by and i often wonder where they have gone. So, yes, this anniversary really does make me feel old. But, i wouldn't have missed watching it for the world.

My only regret is that, despite my boyhood ambitions, i never got to appear in a photo like this.

Oh well. I guess you can't have everything in life?

Back To the Future?

Many of you might have seen stories floating around on the Internet, over the past couple of days, saying about how today was Future Day.
This all stems from the movie Back To The Future. The story being that today, or yesterday, depending on which story you read, was the date programmed into Marty McFly's De Lorean sports car.

Well, it's not true...
Apparently this all started when a UK based movie magazine reported the story. They then realised their mistake. But, they still produced a photo-shopped picture, supposedly showing the read out in the car, with the date as "Jul 05, 2010". I guess they were just having a bit of fun? But, you know how the Internet is these days. Stories like this spread like wildfire. Sites like Twitter & Facebook just help to fan those flames & spread them ever further. Maybe that's because we all want the stories to be true. It's almost as if we're willing them to be real, in some instances anyway.
I saw the story myself yesterday, via Twitter as it happens. I tried, in vain, to find out if this was true, as it seemed like aa amusing little story. Now i know why i couldn't prove it.

This whole episode made me think of two things.

Firstly, this re-inforces the fact that you just can't believe all that you read, or see on the Internet. As if you should do so anyway! So many people want to start a hoax, or just don't check their facts in the first place. In these cases & before you know it, that "fact", or deliberate falsehood, has become the "truth".

My second thought was that the future just isn't what it was made out to be. If i'd bought the future in a store, i'd have taken it back by now & asked for my money back.
In Back To The Future, Marty McFly was zooming around on a hoverboard. Well, i haven't seen anyone doing that in my neighbourhood yet & i don't expect to do so for some time to come. Even the De Lorean car seemed too revolutionary & disappeared into the sunset.
I remember watching "2001 A Space Odyssey", all those years ago & thinking, "Wow this is going to be happening in my lifetime. I'll be able to visit the Moon when i'm older" It sure beats some terrestrial resorts i can think of (Insert joke here about visiting the Moon & not liking it, because it had no atmosphere...)
In July 1969, we landed a man on the Moon. Now, we don't seem to be able to get any futher than orbiting the Earth.
I'm sure we can all think of many more examples of those exciting promises of what the future was going to hold for us.

So, what happened? Were we all lied to?
And, maybe most importantly of all. Who stole my future? I want it back.