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Post by dwight on Jul 19, 2011 14:15:40 GMT -4
In preparation of the aniversary tomorrow I am watching the CBS reference DVDs I have from Vanderbilt University. In the days prior to the launch on July 16, there were many stories about the people and systems behind the scenes.
Unlike an HB I am watching the material and shaking my head at the ingeuity, management skill and outright creativity which occured in 1969 (and earlier).
Just a few hours shy of 42 years later, I cannot help but admire the planning behind Apollo 11. I don't sit here and arrogantly claim "they couldn't have done it back then" I sit here and exclaim, "how utterly amazing is it that they did what they did back then!"
My tip of the hat the everyone involved in that spectacular event which defined the 20th Century more than anything else.
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Post by lukepemberton on Jul 19, 2011 14:36:10 GMT -4
It was history for British TV. This from a wiki link: The actual night of the moon landings on 20/21 July was also historic for British TV, as it was the first ever all-night broadcast on British television, with both BBC1 and ITV remaining on air for 11 hours from 11.30 p.m. (20 July) to 10.30 a.m. (21 July). Neil Armstrong stepped on to the surface of the moon at 3:56 a.m. British time. His comments were interspersed with commentary from James Burke, often to fill in the silences.
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Post by tedward on Jul 19, 2011 15:15:52 GMT -4
I was woken up to come down and watch it in the UK.
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Post by LunarOrbit on Jul 19, 2011 19:48:26 GMT -4
I'll be watching the DVDs tomorrow (like I have every July 20th since I got the DVDs).
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Post by ka9q on Jul 19, 2011 19:59:14 GMT -4
His comments were interspersed with commentary from James Burke, often to fill in the silences. [/i][/quote]Here in the US, Walter Cronkite was actually speechless. That's a very unusual state for any newscaster.
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Post by Glom on Jul 21, 2011 16:03:58 GMT -4
It's not so much the technological achievement on its own, but the way the parties involved were able to muster such focus to get it done. The reason we'd take 50 years or whatever to repeat the feat now is because we'd be treating like a side project.
The 60s was indeed a decade of thinking big. Apollo, Concorde, Boeing 747, Ringways, actually winning the World Cup, Generation II, Beeching (actually that was kind of the opposite).
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Post by lukepemberton on Jul 21, 2011 16:56:48 GMT -4
I'll be watching the DVDs tomorrow (like I have every July 20th since I got the DVDs). Are those DVDs from Spacecraft?
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Post by scooter on Jul 21, 2011 18:59:49 GMT -4
His comments were interspersed with commentary from James Burke, often to fill in the silences. [/i][/quote]Here in the US, Walter Cronkite was actually speechless. That's a very unusual state for any newscaster. [/quote] What can any human say after hearing "Houston, Tranquility Base...the Eagle has landed." Even Charlie Duke was a bit tongue tied after that statement...a moment for the ages.
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Post by dwight on Jul 21, 2011 19:25:45 GMT -4
I just got off the phone tslking to Stan Lebar's widow. I am still teary-eyed. What an amazing man and what an amazing woman.
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Post by LunarOrbit on Jul 21, 2011 22:19:27 GMT -4
I'll be watching the DVDs tomorrow (like I have every July 20th since I got the DVDs). Are those DVDs from Spacecraft? Yep, I've got the Apollo 11, Apollo 15, and Gemini sets.
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Post by coelacanth on Jul 22, 2011 4:39:01 GMT -4
Here in the US, Walter Cronkite was actually speechless. That's a very unusual state for any newscaster. What can any human say after hearing "Houston, Tranquility Base...the Eagle has landed." Some of the people you get here would probably say, eagles have wings, wings only work in the air, there is no air on the moon, that proves it was all faked! Anyway, the joke in the Soviet Union was that it was done to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Vlad Lenin's conception.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jul 22, 2011 9:10:52 GMT -4
And sadly, after 42 years and 1 day after their greatest achievement, NASA's manned space exploration is cancelled....
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Post by Data Cable on Jul 22, 2011 13:53:53 GMT -4
Some of the people you get here would probably say, eagles have wings, wings only work in the air, there is no air on the moon, that proves it was all faked! I'm actually surprised that fattydash (or one of his 8.2 billion sock puppets) didn't use that argument.
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Post by Obviousman on Jul 23, 2011 2:29:31 GMT -4
It's quite funny, but on our Defence science and aviation folders there has been more interest in Apollo 11 now than at the 40th anniversary in 2009.
Perhaps it is because of the retirement of the orbiter fleet.
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Post by blackstar on Jul 23, 2011 7:27:00 GMT -4
And sadly, after 42 years and 1 day after their greatest achievement, NASA's manned space exploration is cancelled.... Its not canceled, just paused. There was a 6 year gap after the last Apollo flight before the Shuttle flew. There's a good chance the MPCV will fly by 2015 and unlike the shuttle it is designed for exploration missions.
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