Category Archives: lunar landing

It Was 40 Years Ago Today

When the Astronauts Came Out to Play

The first astronauts on the Moon achieved something for more than the U.S. (which funded the mission); they took that giant leap for all people on Earth. From Apollo:  through the eyes of the astronauts. (Click to embiggen.)
The first astronauts on the Moon achieved something for more than the U.S. (which funded the mission); they took that giant leap for all people on Earth. From "Apollo: through the eyes of the astronauts". (Click to embiggen.)

And what a grand play it was — not “play” in the sense of “fooling around getting nothing done”, but “play” as in making one of the biggest plays that humanity could achieve since the discovery that Earth is a planet, the Sun is a star, and we’re all part of a galaxy that wheels the cosmos with other galaxies.  That big. Maybe even bigger.

A lot of us who were watching the events unfolding on TV have a lot of happy remembrances of that time. It was a time to look forward to being in space, to establishing careers in space science or as astronauts, astronomers, engineers, and more.  Far more than a “plant the flag, pick up a few rocks, and head home” mission that short-sighted and ignorant Apollo detractors since then have sneered about, the mission was a symbolic and scientific first step off Earth to another world.  It told us that we can do this thing. And, the memory of that singular accomplishment lives on.

Does it still mean a lot today?  I suggest that it does. It reminds us that humans can do great things when we put our minds to it. We can focus on things that aren’t war and hate and bigotry and misogyny and ignorance and religious strife and all the other things that humans do to and think about one another.  This is a good day to remember that we are not ignorant savages living by our wits and controlled by fear and hate.  We are better than that.  If Apollo 11 and its sister missions (including the Soviet-era missions) don’t teach us anything else than this one lesson, they’ll have been worth all the work, expense, sacrifice, and exhiliration. Without any of the successes on the Moon, I seriously doubt that any of the world’s space programs would be what they are today–for they were, at least in part, inspired by the lunar explorations of the 1960s and 70s.

Humanity’s Moon

Focus on our Nearest Neighbor in Space

The Sea of Tranquillity, where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed, as imaged by U.S. amateur astrophotographer Mark Sibole of Fife Lake, Michigan. Its part of the Moon for all Mankind IYA/Malta mosaic. Click to embiggen.
The Sea of Tranquillity, where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed, as imaged by U.S. amateur astrophotographer Mark Sibole of Fife Lake, Michigan. It's part of the "Moon for all Mankind" IYA/Malta mosaic. Click to embiggen.

The Moon is in the news for good reason.  This week marks the 40th anniversary of the 1969 lunar landing, where three humans walked on the Moon for the first time. NASA is releasing new footage of that landing, plus sponsoring a number of events commemorating it.

Planetariums are having public events as well, and there’s a wealth of info online about the mission.

Over at  Universe Today, Nancy Atkinson has posted a number of links about the Apollo mission — all worth checking out!

One of the neatest online projects (among the many neat ones) about the Moon is the IYA’s Malta “Moon for all Mankind” image, comprising images (and at least one sketch) of the Moon from around the world.

The Moon for All Mankind IYA Image. Click to embiggen.
The Moon for All Mankind IYA Image. Click to embiggen and by all means, visit the website for a larger image you can print out!

The IYA has organized a number of events for the year, with a special emphasis on the Moon and our ongoing exploration of this rocky body. We’ve long been interested in the Moon, and for centuries all we had were our eyes to study it with. The invention of the telescope revealed incredible detail, and all those features confirmed in observers’ minds that this mysterious thing in the sky was another place — one that could be explored, in time.

The first spacecraft to actually land on the Moon was the Russian Luna 2 probe. It slammed into the surface on September 14, 1959. Today, 50 years and many, many spacecraft from six countries later, we’re still exploring the frozen lava seas and cratered surface of our nearest neighbor in space.

Keep an eye out over the next few days for more imagery, re-released image sets and videos from NASA, and news stories about the Moon and our ongoing exploration.

LRO shows us the Apollo 11 landing site, and the Eagle Lander.  Bart Sibrel, eat your heart out!!
LRO shows us the Apollo 11 landing site, and the Eagle Lander. Bart Sibrel, eat your heart out!!

One of the most exciting image collections (just released today (Friday, July 17) comes from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, showing five of the six Apollo landing sites, including the landers.  Those landing sites were selected to give scientists a good look at various parts of the lunar surface. Astronauts set up instruments, took rock and dust samples, and many, many wonderful images of the lunar landscape. The set also shows Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 landing sites, plus evidence for all the instruments set up at the  Apollo 14 site.

These images are not just blasts from the past, according to NASA. They tell us in a most visceral way that “we were there” and that “we want to go back.” LRO’s images are giving detailed information about past  landing sites as a way to determine future places where astronauts can settle in for a long-term study of the Moon.