Apollo 11 Moonshot Broadcast Live, 40 Years Later

[Mike/W8BAC]

Hi Bill and Todd,

I listened to this radio report yesterday just a bit before this thread caught my eye. I think you might find it interesting. All that history, GONE!

Two of the points they made are, the original video was not compatible with normal NTSC tv. That is why the networks shot video of a NASA monitor and the new HD video they released for the anniversary was doctored by Hollywood from old commercial TV footage.

Mike

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106637066

[Opcom]

Just listened to Houston telling Apollo 11 to look for a green blue laser they were firing at the Command module to see if they could spot it. No luck.

Here's a link to the Parkes site with anniversary info:

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/apollo11/

I believe they did see the laser but not at first from what I heard.

My apprentice was almost in disbelief to be told of the computing and navigation technology used for the mission.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

You know it was all a hoax. And Kronkite was part of it. Why do you think he just passed on?

Just listened to Houston telling Apollo 11 to look for a green blue laser they were firing at the Command module to see if they could spot it. No luck.

Here's a link to the Parkes site with anniversary info:

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/apollo11/

I believe they did see the laser but not at first from what I heard.

My apprentice was almost in disbelief to be told of the computing and navigation technology used for the mission.

[W2XR]

Just listened to Houston telling Apollo 11 to look for a green blue laser they were firing at the Command module to see if they could spot it. No luck.

Here's a link to the Parkes site with anniversary info:

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/apollo11/

Todd, I just completely read all of the text contained within the link you graciously posted about Parkes and the role they played in the Apollo 11 mission, as well as several of the subsequent Apollo missions. Utterly fascinating, and I must admit I was completely transfixed reading this. Suffice it to say, there is a lot of information there, and those so technically inclined will no doubt find this entire story quite amazing. I would really encourage others to have a look there as well. I have bookmarked this site and I will go through it again in the near-term to really digest all of the information presented.

I must admit that I knew nothing about the Parkes facility. The Canberra and Goldstone tracking facilities are mentioned numerous times in this site, and I was well aware of them and the role they have long played in the U.S. space program. Based upon what I have learned, the DVD "The Dish" will be taken out of the local video store by me for viewing on Saturday night. I look forward to seeing it, even if the story it tells has been probably somewhat Hollywoodized.

Thank you again.

Best 73,

Bruce

[W2XR]

You know it was all a hoax. And Kronkite was part of it. Why do you think he just passed on?


[

Yes, Walter Cronkite just passed on a few hours ago. A bona fide American icon in my humble opinion, a man who will be very much missed by me. I spent many evenings with him as he reported the news, as I was growing up. Major stories I can vividly recall him reporting were the Kennedy assassination in November of 1963, the Viet Nam war, and all of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo manned spaceflight missions.

He was also a ham; his call was KB2GSD.

I find it somewhat ironic that he died during this 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Cronkite frequently and fondly recalled his coverage of America's manned space program as being his most favorite journalistic work.

As Walter himself would say, "and that's the way it is." Rest in peace, old friend, and God bless you.

Sic gloria transit mundi.

73,

Bruce

[Sam KS2AM]

You know it was all a hoax. And Kronkite was part of it. Why do you think he just passed on?
[

Yes, Walter Kronkite just passed on a few hours ago.

... what a stunning coincidence ... Walter Cronkite also just passed away. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/17/walter-kronkite-on-twitte_n_238865.html



The Apollo 11 broadcast is pretty cool. Between the audio and the We Choose the Moon website you can almost believe its happening right now.


Sam / KS2AM

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

He might have said that's the was it is, but it wasn't. Stupid Americans at the time believed him.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Ah, yes - Walter Crankcase as one of the old humor skits referred to him. Along with becoming a media giant, he was also known for making editorializing (spinning) rather than reporting the news fashionable with his 'stalemate' statement, and making the term NIMBY famous after his opposition to a wind farm well out in the ocean beyond his home. He did a lot of good things for good causes as well, including a documentary on the Hughes H-4 (formerly the HK-1 'Spruce Goose') history and restoration by Evergreen Aviation in McMinnville, Oregon. Got to see it at a special corporate members party a few days before its scheduled premier at the local theater. He did an excellent job, his signature voice lending that feeling of knowledge and authority. 92 years is a pretty damned good run, an actual 'old buzzard' op in the true (vs. New Age) sense of the word! 

4 hours and counting until the next stage (6) of the moon mission re-creation, most likely firing to position just prior to entering lunar orbit. And just over 30 hours until landing. It's been fun listening to the 40 yr old comms like it was a present day mission.

[ka3zlr]

Naa I think more that CBS rubbed off on him than anything.

73
Jack.

[W1RKW]

On the wechosethemoon.org site I keep losing the audio unless I keep moving the mouse around.  It's acting like a sound saver rather than a screensaver.   And it seems to do it on the 4 PCs I have.  Anyway to correct the audio so it remains on all the time?

A side note for anyone interested: There seems to be a delay between the 2 websites.  We Choose the Moon is about 15 minutes behind the NASA website.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Bob, other than the + and - signs Mike mentioned (lower right near the antenna symbol), I'm not aware of any way. Audio here tends to rise and fall, but I've yet to actually lose it completely. There are quiet or dead air times when they're just not communicating.

I had the NASA site up alongside this one and both were in sync. But that was several days ago now. Haven't checked since, though I did notice that some of the times Houston mentioned are occasionally a minute or more off what the event clock on the left side of the screen is reading.

They're currently talking with Armstrong in the LM ('Eagle') about going through his checklist. Signal report he gave to Houston was 4x4.

Just under 4 hours to the next stage, a little over 6 until the landing itself. Truly like turning back the pages of time.

[ka3zlr]

I think it's Great man and the Reading is just a great joy on all the sights and who did what with whom, I been spending a great deal reading all this.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

"Houston, Tranquility Base here......the Eagle has landed...."


Petty heady stuff. We were so less-'refined' then, technologically and otherwise. Yet we made it happen without the nonsense you'd see today.

Was interesting to hear the announcer speaking after the separation of the CSM and LM, you could clearly hear the emotion building in his voice.

BTW Bob, I checked against the NASA site during the landing phase and the We Choose the Moon site was actually ahead of NASA's audio by 15-25 seconds here, while the landing took place maybe 10-15 seconds after the clock had stopped at zero. Weird.

I see a 'Return to Earth' button near the bottom, not sure if it will re-sync the clock or perhaps lose all the current stuff, so I'm gonna wait to click it.

[Mike/W8BAC]

Todd,

The Return To Eartn button ends the experience.

Mike

[Opcom]

the continuting audio feed is great. I'm a little disappointed the mission clock has stopped incrementing although I suppose the primary objective has been accomplished. I hope the experience will continue until recovery.

[Opcom]

It seems to have ended with the famouns first words. Now it's just sitting there.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

They're still broadcasting on the NASA link, minus the cool animations. Pretty sure they'll have the entire mission on there through splash down.

[W2XR]

It seems to have ended with the famouns first words. Now it's just sitting there.

Yeah, what happened? I was listening to this last night, when all of a sudden, the audio feed went dead after Armstrong first set foot upon the moon.

My assumption was that this link was going to play the entire audio archive of the mission. Apparently, my assumption was incorrect.

I listened to the audio feed for literally the entire day yesterday, only leaving for lunch. Utterly fascinating, as I envisioned what was actually happening at the time. During the live mission 40 years ago, the networks only broadcast snippets of the audio, so we never really heard all that much. But to hear all of the details as they really happened, and remembering exactly where I was 40 years ago to the day when they were happening, was a great experience.

There was an article in the New York Times during the Apollo 11 mission about the technical details of the communications link for earth to CSM and LM communications, and it was this article that actually triggered my interest in radio and becoming a ham. I wished I had saved it from a nostalgia standpoint.

The U.S. Government and President Kennedy achieved their goal of inspiring the nations youth to pursue a career in a technical discipline (and hobby) with me, by virtue of the manned space program.

Years later, I had the great honor of meeting Gene Cernan, the commander of Apollo 17 and the last man to walk on the moon, and I made a point of telling him how much the manned space program had motivated me to pursue a technical career (and even my hobby), and he stated that indeed this was clearly one of the intended goals of the program. I suspect it may have been the same with many other of our amateur radio brethren.

To Apollo 11 and all of the other Apollo missions; Sic gloria transit mundi.

73,

Bruce

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

They're just getting ready to launch the LM back up into lunar orbit in the next 10 minutes. Talking about the 'battle shorts' right now to assure maximum data transfer, basically burning up a piece of gear instead of letting the breakers trip. "They are not a fashion accessory".

Interesting story about the broken connection that nearly kept them from leaving the moon. Aldrin made it work with a couple of pens.

Impressive heat damage to the capsule after re-entry. I bet it got warm in there:

http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/nasaNAS~5~5~23815~127499:Apollo-11-Crew-in-Raft-before-Recov?qvq=q:Apollo;lc:nasaNAS~10~10,nasaNAS~5~5,NVA2~14~14,nasaNAS~20~20,NVA2~1~1,NVA2~13~13,NVA2~23~23,nasaNAS~16~16,NSVS~3~3,NVA2~8~8,NVA2~22~22,NVA2~19~19,nasaNAS~8~8,NVA2~4~4,nasaNAS~6~6,NVA2~21~21,NVA2~18~18,nasaNAS~4~4,NVA2~20~20,nasaNAS~2~2,nasaNAS~13~13,NVA2~17~17,nasaNAS~12~12,nasaNAS~22~22,NVA2~16~16,NVA2~9~9,NVA2~25~25,nasaNAS~7~7,NVA2~15~15,nasaNAS~9~9,NVA2~26~26,NVA2~24~24&mi=101&trs=4250

Those green suits looked out of place, then I remembered the issue of bacteria and quarantine after the mission.

[KB2WIG]

I clicked on the following link,

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11j.html

and BLAMMO!  shot most of yesterday.....

Interesting reading, along with the 1969 teck debriefings.

klc

[W1RKW]

Not sure if anyone has ever seen a LEM.  There's one at the Smithsonian. That thing is/was as fragile as can be.  It wouldn't take much to pierce the skin/hull of that thing.  You'd never get me in that tin can unless there's a pretty thick pair of iron shorts on hand to wear which I 'm sure Aldrin and Armstrong had.  A couple of cool heads indeed to fly and land that thing. 

[ka3zlr]

And to think an Ink Pen got'em Out too...awesum...

73
Jack.

[AJ1G]

Listened to the NASA link alot last night..fascinating stuff.  Reminded me of the time I was able to copy Houston comms to one of the Gemini missions on 15 Mc SSB (or maybe it was AM) as a pre-JN around 1965. 

Interesting to find out that Buzz Aldrin was actually a high school classmate of my late father - after I heard on the History Channel that he was born in Montclair, NJ, I checked his bio out on Wikipedia...turns out he and my Dad were both Montclair HS Class of 47.    Don't ever recall my Dad mentioning this though 40 years ago. 

I saw them set foot on the moon at the Clarkson College Rathskellar, while I was attending a summer program for HS students planning on going into engineering.  Don't remember who bought the beers, wasn't me, as I was just shy of 17 at the time.  One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, and a few 807s for WB2ZPS!!!

[n1ps]

TNX Todd for the posts in regard to Parks etc.  Nice seeing you at Deerfield in the spring.  I have the "Dish" video (not the DVD) and periodically watch it.  Quite a story, even though reality was stretched a bit.  Anyone in this area is welcome to borrow it...

I guess I expected someone to post the moon hoax business on here.  I assume he was pulling some chains, as I think most of this is anyway.  As I recall one of the hoax fruitcakes attacked one of the Apollo men a few years back when he was at a public event.  I feel sad for those brave soles who risked their lives for that great adventure in those days, to have to endure such garbage.  They know what happened and they have an amazing history to share.

The exhibit at the cape in FL is worth visiting.  The Saturn 5 rocket is huge (on display) and shows the "brute force" approach to sending men to the heavens.

There were a few hams who tracked the Apoolo missions from earth.  Their stories are on the web.  

Finally, a thousand generations from now, if people still populate this earth, the ONE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT of the 20th century will be, in their hostory lessons, the Apollo moon landings.

My one and only post on this subject.

73

~ps

[KB2WIG]

" the hoax fruitcakes attacked one of the Apollo men a few years back when he was at a public event. "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaUqaVj51w4&feature=related



Just deserts.

klc