Vale Neil Armstrong

[Ford Fairlane]

Neil Armstrong the first man to walk on the surface of the moon passed away aged 82.

I'm sure there are a few here old enough to remember huddling around the old black and white TV watching the grainy images on 21 July 1969 in Australia mainly via the Parkes telescope and remember the immortal words "that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Neil Armstrong passes away at 82
(The Age)

Neil Armstrong passes away at 82
(The Australian)

Neil Armstrong passes away at 82
(BBC)

 

[Burningleviathan]

Sad news. He was an amazing, courageous man who inspired a whole lot of kids.

I was an astronomy buff as a child. I knew more when i was 8 then now at 30. I use to wish to head up there one day, still kinda do. An inspiration. RIP Neil.

 

[Pinepower]

I am one of those who watched and marveled. A day off school unheard of back then.

I think the fact that we could watch it live was amazing.

Time to bring out the DVD "The Dish" and watch it again. A real classic Australian movie.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Died of a broken heart because his son Lance is a cheat.

Thats what I heard.

 

[Asgardian]

Yep, watched it on the old B&W.

I remember getting the book from the News with areas for pictures to be cut out of the News and glued in plus the cloth arm badge. I believe I still have them tucked away somewhere safe.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I'm in the middle of watching a great doco on SBS- been on a couple of time before - In the Shadow of the Moon. Ron Howard was involved in making the doco which involved archival footage and interviews with some of the crews from the 9 Apollo missions that voyaged out to the moon from 1968 when Apollo 8 around Christmas 1968 made the first circumnavigation of moon and sent back the first pictures of earth and the 3 crew members were the first humans to view the whole earth, to the crew of Apollo 17 the sixth and final Apollo lunar landing mission that put the final humans to visit and the 11th and 12th men to step on the moon.

Armstrong like so many other times turned down the request to be interviewed. Armstrong didn't seek publicity and after the first few years after the moon landing, stopped doing interviews with the only real appearances he made was when Clinton held a 25th anniversary event at the whitehouse and again when the 40th anniversary was celebrated with Obama at the whitehouse again.

The moon landing was a very near miss. If Armstrong got it wrong, they could have had a crash landing as he had to avoid bolders. If he had burnt up about another minutes of fuel there wouldn't have been enough to get back to the command module being piloted by Michael Collins, or he would have had to abort the landing.

Tom Hanks after staring in the Apollo 13 movie was bitten by the space bug again and went and made for HBO a 12 part x 1 hour miniseries called from From the Earth to the Moon ( which I have on tape and pull out once a year or so) about the Apollo mission program and it concentrated on the key people involved. What comes out is that the guys at NASA spent a lot of time working out which astronauts fitted together best to make a team and closely guarded who was going to be the first crew to land on the moon and who was going to be commander.

Now whilst it's a miniseries and liberties would have been taking the thing that comes out is that the physiological profiling that NASA would have done to get the crew mix right was extensive. Buzz Aldwrin is depicted as continually pushing to be commander and when he misses out to push Armstrong to reveal what he would say when he got on the moon. Armstrong is a dour character but extremely competent astronaut. Another example was the crew of Apollo 12 were teamed up because they were guys who didn't give a shit that they were the 2nd team that went to moon, but were 3 great buddies who did everything together including having matching gold plated sports cars, ie Messers Conrad, Bean and Gordon.

I started prep/reception in June 1969 and I remember a month later watching the moon landing. I would go home and watch the images from the moon being sent back from that mission and the next few Apollo missions. The space race was the best thing that came out of the 60's. Only thing that comes close is the pill.

Armstrong speaks in 1994 at the Whitehouse. An intro by Gore and then follow up by Clinton.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Mitt Romney acknowleged Armstrong in his convention speech the other day and a reminder of what a great thing landing on the moon was

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/30/transcript-mitt-romney-speech-at-rnc/

When President Kennedy challenged Americans to​

go to the moon, the challenge was not whether we would get​

there, it was only when we'd get there.​

​

The soles of Neil Armstrong's on the moon made permanent​

impressions on our souls.​

​

Anne and I watced those steps together on her parents​

sofa. Like all American is, we went to bed at night knowing we​

lived in the greatest country in the history of the world.​

​

God bless Neil Armstrong.​

​

Tonight, that American flag is still there on the Moon.​

and I don't doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong's spirit is​

still with us. That unique blend of optimism, humility, and the​

utter confidence that, when the world needs someone to do that,​

you need an American.​

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/30/transcript-mitt-romney-speech-at-rnc/

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Below is the only photo taken of Armstrong on the Moon. Ther rest were of Buzz Aldrin taken by Armstrong as they only had one camera.

Years ago I heard someone being interviewed on radio say that Aldrin deliberately left a camera behind in the command module because he was pissed off he wasn't made commander. But that is BS as NASA only gave them one still picture camera and a movie camera.

http://www.space.com/17308-neil-armstrong-photo-legacy-rare-views.html

There is only one photograph of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, and in it, he has his back to the camera.

The first man to set foot on a planetary body other than Earth was not camera shy. It was just that for most of the time he and Buzz Aldrin were exploring the moon in July 1969, the checklist called for Armstrong to have their only camera.

When the news broke Saturday (Aug. 25) that Armstrong, 82, had passed away, it is likely that many people's memories of the first man on the moon were of black and white television images or color film stills. If they did recall a photo captured during the Apollo 11 moonwalk, it was almost certainly one of Aldrin, whether it was of him saluting the flag or looking down at his bootprint.

http://www.space.com/17308-neil-armstrong-photo-legacy-rare-views.html

and from the webpage

The only full-body photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon shows him working at the Apollo 11 lunar module "Eagle" on July 20, 1969. The first man to set foot on the lunar surface was inadvertently captured on film by Buzz Aldrin, who was tasked with taking a series of panoramic photos.
CREDIT: NASA

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

One for the conspiracy theorists

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Died of a broken heart because his son Lance is a cheat.

Thats what I heard.

As we discussed a couple of Fridays ago, an underated post!