National Geographic Society cartographer David Moore would follow the Apollo 11 launch through his backyard telescope, the Washington Evening Star wrote on 10 July 1969.

The Wheaton, Maryland, resident was one of just a few amateur astronomers NASA selected to help nearly 200 professionals, in part because he caught a rare glimpse of the previous Apollo launch, Apollo 10. He told the newspaper he would look for “small brilliant flashes when rocket engines are turned on or ‘burned’ or . . . when waste water is ejected from the spacecraft,” and freezes into reflective ice crystals.

National Geographic Society cartographer David Moore would follow the Apollo 11 launch through his backyard telescope, the Washington Evening Star wrote on 10 July 1969.

The Wheaton, Maryland, resident was one of just a few amateur astronomers NASA selected to help nearly 200 professionals, in part because he caught a rare glimpse of the previous Apollo launch, Apollo 10. He told the newspaper he would look for “small brilliant flashes when rocket engines are turned on or ‘burned’ or . . . when waste water is ejected from the spacecraft,” and freezes into reflective ice crystals.