@ApolloPlus40 – Drama of the highest order
Luna 15 was the last-ditch Soviet attempt to upstage the American landing on the Moon. While Armstrong and Aldrin prepared to leave Tranquility Base, the Soviet robot began its descent towards the lunar surface. At 10:51 Houston time, British observers at Jodrell Bank lost track of the radio signal. One observer commented, “”I say, this has really been drama of the highest order.” … Read more
@ApolloPlus40 – Transient lunar phenomena
“During the Apollo 11 mission, members of the Lunar International Observer Network (LION) made continuous observations of a lunar area where illuminations had been noted. At 18:45 GMT (2:45 p.m. EDT), the astronauts sighted an illumination in the Aristarchus region, the first time that a lunar transient event was sighted by an observer in space. The sighting was confirmed by a LION observer in West Germany.” … Read more
@ApolloPlus40 – “Liftoff on Apollo 11”
For a close-up view from a camera on the gantry, check out this video [3:31]. For a transcript and audio clips of Jack King’s narration of the launch and subsequent parts of the mission, see the Apollo 11 Flight Journal. This blog post is part of the @ApolloPlus40 series, which accompanies the ApolloPlus40 Twitter project by Nature News, a re-telling of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, 40 years later. Read more
@ApolloPlus40 – Profiles of the crew, and a nation
The day before the launch, newspapers carried profiles of the Apollo 11 crew and commentary on the scene near at the launch site. Read more
@ApolloPlus40 – VIP passes for the poor
The Reverend Ralph Abernathy (see In The Field, 7 July 2009) led 25 poor Southern families on mule-drawn wagons to the Kennedy Space Center to protest federal funding priorities. Thomas O. Paine, NASA administrator, met the group outside the gate, according to New York Times and Washington Post reports. Read more