Neil Armstrong

[RogerM]

So another of my boyhood heroes sadly departs. I was aged 16 at the time of the first moon landing and camping in Brittany. I couldn't believe that my father would arrange our first family holiday abroad to clash with such a momentous occasion - I was a complete space nut, and still am. Actually it worked out OK. It was a lovely warm evening and the campsite owner put a large TV outside which we could watch. Whilst I believe the BBC had James Burke commentating and he motor-mouthed over everything the astronauts and Houston were saying, the French guy just shut up as the lunar module descended through 20,000ft and we heard every word they said right down to touchdown - didn't need a commentator - and despite the large numbers of viewers clustered around the TV you could have heard a pin drop. The tension was unbelievable, made all the more so by the very creditable silence of the French commentary.

There can only ever be one man who could be the first to walk on another world and he's on a par with Yuri Gagarin. Sad that there are only 8 of the 12 men who walked on the moon still alive - Charles "Pete" Conrad, Alan Shepard and Jim Irwin have all passed away. Of the 8 remaining, the youngest is aged 76 so I guess that within 10 years they will all have gone.

In 1969 the talk was on the moon by 1969 and Mars by 1980, and 2001 - a Space Odyssey had a moon base and manned space craft out to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn - and that didn't seem far fetched at the time. If some one had told me in 1969 that over 40 years later we would not have returned to the moon, and have no plans to send anyone anywhere, and that the Americans would have, for all practical purposes, turned their backs on manned space flight I wouldn't have believed it.

 

[Paul Chapman]

That first landing was a truly momentous occasion. I remember it as if it were yesterday. Hard to believe it was so long ago.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[newt]

As other space nut, I have been told that It is irresponsible to still think of manned space flight, the sense of adventure is slowly being extracted from the gene pool.

 

[RogerS]

As other space nut, I have been told that It is irresponsible to still think of manned space flight, the sense of adventure is slowly being extracted from the gene pool.

That's what the grey men of the 'left' would like to happen if they had their way.

 

[maltrout512]

Neil Armstrong became a very humble person, landing on the moon cemented his humbleness.

 

[bugbear]

As other space nut, I have been told that It is irresponsible to still think of manned space flight, the sense of adventure is slowly being extracted from the gene pool.

That's what the grey men of the 'left' would like to happen if they had their way.

Yeah. 'cos left wing governments never went to space.

Wait, what?

BugBear

 

[Tom K]

Well theres just left of right then theres so far left that you make right wingers look like lefties.

 

[kmcleod]

I remember being allowed to stay up and watch it on a very grainy TV, and it hooked me onto science and space ever since,

Interesting that despite being humble and retiring he would still speak when needed, when the latest administration cancelled ARES and Constillation he spoke out, and also volunteered for the one way trip to Mars.

The sense of adventure is being confined by the money men and the politician, hopefully guys like Rusk, Branson and others will keep it alive and we will reach out and take that next step soon.

 

[newt]

I know it is a change of subject, but we the Brits are still very keen on land speed records, so we still have some drive to achieve.