50 years of the Space Age

Anyone seen the photos taken by Cassini at Saturn… Totally amazing, Titan is such a facinating world with the rivers and lakes of liquid methane. 😎
I really do hope i see a manned lunar or martian landing in my lifetime.

Wasn’t around when Sputnik was launched, being a child of the sixties (by eleven months 😀 ), but I do remember the Apollo series, and watched as many of the BBC TV “Specials” as I could. Raymond Baxter and James Burke were the usual presenters, with Reg Turnbull as well IIRC.

I remember being woken in the middle of the night by my father, and blearily going dopwnstairs to watch on TV as the shadowy figure of Neil Armstrong made that “One Small Step…”

Apollo 12 was on (or leaving) the moon on my ninth birthday, and my school friends and I watched them while we ate the birthday tea my mother had prepared…her fears that a houseful of nine year old boys would be a real handful obviously unfounded as we sat and watched TV in awe.

I never had the full 1/144 Airfix Saturn V kit but I did receive their 1/72 Apollo Lunar Lander kit, probably that same birthday, and so was able to re-enact the moment of touchdown and blast off from the lunar surface.

I also remember getting very cross when an Aunt and Uncle turned up as I was watchign one of the TV Apollo 13 updates, and they kept getting in the way of the TV screen – didn’t they realis ethis was amtte rof life or death! :mad:.

Two years ago, and again this Easter, I finally achieved one of my boyhood dreams and visited Kennedy Space Centre and saw a real Saturn V, the Apollo launch pads and so on. What a big beast that rocket was! My teenage kids were bored rigid, and didn’t seem to think going to the moon was a big deal until I pointed out that the on-board computer in the Apollo capsules was probably a damn site less capable than the most basic PC you can buy these days, yet it managed to get men safely to and from the moon.
but it would be good to see us at least get back to the moon. After all, its nearly forty years since we were last there…

And to everyone who says “What’s the point? All that cash could be used to sort out some of the major problems on earth…” then my answer is “1. Because it’s there” and “2. because who knows what the spin-offs might be”. Just think how many useful things came out of the Apollo program – it ultimately did so much more than just let twelve men walk on the moon…

Paul F

I Agree with every word you say, we should have been on Mars 20 years ago,

have you read “Lost Moon” by Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger all about Apollo 13,
brilliant book.
Phil.

Wasn’t around when Sputnik was launched, being a child of the sixties (by eleven months 😀 ), but I do remember the Apollo series, and watched as many of the BBC TV “Specials” as I could. Raymond Baxter and James Burke were the usual presenters, with Reg Turnbull as well IIRC.

I remember being woken in the middle of the night by my father, and blearily going dopwnstairs to watch on TV as the shadowy figure of Neil Armstrong made that “One Small Step…”

Apollo 12 was on (or leaving) the moon on my ninth birthday, and my school friends and I watched them while we ate the birthday tea my mother had prepared…her fears that a houseful of nine year old boys would be a real handful obviously unfounded as we sat and watched TV in awe.

I never had the full 1/144 Airfix Saturn V kit but I did receive their 1/72 Apollo Lunar Lander kit, probably that same birthday, and so was able to re-enact the moment of touchdown and blast off from the lunar surface.

I also remember getting very cross when an Aunt and Uncle turned up as I was watchign one of the TV Apollo 13 updates, and they kept getting in the way of the TV screen – didn’t they realis ethis was amtte rof life or death! :mad:.

Two years ago, and again this Easter, I finally achieved one of my boyhood dreams and visited Kennedy Space Centre and saw a real Saturn V, the Apollo launch pads and so on. What a big beast that rocket was! My teenage kids were bored rigid, and didn’t seem to think going to the moon was a big deal until I pointed out that the on-board computer in the Apollo capsules was probably a damn site less capable than the most basic PC you can buy these days, yet it managed to get men safely to and from the moon.

I remember that at school we were told we would see men would get to walk on Mars in our lifetime – well, I’m not so sure my generation will now, but it would be good to see us at least get back to the moon. After all, its nearly forty years since we were last there…

And to everyone who says “What’s the point? All that cash could be used to sort out some of the major problems on earth…” then my answer is “1. Because it’s there” and “2. because who knows what the spin-offs might be”. Just think how many useful things came out of the Apollo program – it ultimately did so much more than just let twelve men walk on the moon…

Paul F

I regularly watch Sky and BBC news so why did I have to learn that the Japanese have successfully put a probe around The Moon that is planned to stay there for at least a year from this news agency:confused: .See HERE.

I’m inclined to agree with the last point, Apollo 1 suffered the fire.

Still, that is beside the point. With new commercial alternatives to government exploration of space, i think this can only be a good thing. With real incentives to space technology development, and the means to do so, huge advancements are possible.

Here’s to the next 50 years, may we learn more about the universe, united and not divided.

Minor quibble i think it was Apollo 1 that had the fire not 7.
I think it is about time the human race should get back into space in a big way,hopefully as a joint effort.