Showing posts with label Moon Day 50. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moon Day 50. Show all posts

July 20 - Moon Day 50!!!

Posted on July 20, 2019


Half a century since humans first landed on the Moon!

That's...astonishing to those of us who actually remember it. It still seems...so modern, so current, so cutting-edge of human exploration. I guess because, in the past 50 years, nobody's really topped it.

There have been - so far - zero humans landing on Mars, for example.

Neil Armstrong talked about a "giant leap" for humanity...but of course it was the 1960s (and, back then, the U.S. hadn't even had a single female astronaut!), and we hadn't done much in the way of getting rid of sexist language at that point...

...So Armstrong called it a giant leap for mankind. 

At any rate, while we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, we should reignite our spirit of adventure and get excited about new explorations for humankind!


Look up local events to celebrate Apollo 50th! This article talks about some celebrations in my neck of the woods (not just Los Angeles, but all over "the West"). 

 NASA has Apollo50th television programming and events listed here.

 Turning to Mars, NASA has some great resources in its Mars Exploration Program.


Mars One is a private effort with the goal of starting a colony on Mars. Check it out!

Elon Musk has ambitious plans for SpaceX, including settling Mars and even terraforming it (changing the planet's atmosphere to make it livable for humans without domes or spacesuits.
Could we make Mars look like this someday?
If so, should we?

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July 16 – Countdown to Moon Day 50!!!!

Posted on July 16, 2019



This year, we will have reached the half-century mark of the first time a human walked on another world!

Yep, it's been almost 50 years since Neil Armstrong said those famous words, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Moon Day's 50th Anniversary will be this Saturday, July 20, 2019. So - why am I posting this today?




Today is the anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11. Here is a video of the actual countdown. And here are some other "counts" involved in this famous launch:


Apollo 11 had three astronauts:
  • Neil Armstrong - the first human to step onto another world.
  • Buzz Aldrin - the second human to do so.
  • Michael Collins - who had to stay up in space while his crew mates did the famous stuff.

Apollo 11, the spacecraft, was made up of three parts:

  • A command module with a cabin for the three astronauts - this is the only part that returned to Earth.
  • A service module, which supported the command module with electrical power, oxygen, water, and fuel.
  • A lunar module designed to separate from the rest of the spacecraft in order to descend to and land on the Moon and then eventually return to orbit. 
Above, the command module.
Below, the lunar module.



The spacecraft was launched by a Saturn V rocket. This huge rocket had three stages of liquid propellant.





How much weight was launched 50 years ago today?
  • The Saturn V rocket had a launch weight of 6,540,000 pounds (2,970,000 kg).
  • The Command and Service Modules had a launch weight of 32,390 pounds (14,690 kg).
  • And the Lunar Module had a launch weight of 33,500 pounds (15,200 kg).
That means that, altogether, the vehicle that slowly lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida weighed (at launch time) 6,605,890 pounds (2,999,890 kg). 

Check out the slo-mo and closeups of the launch in the middle of this longer video. (If you want to skip to it, go to Minute 2 of the video.) Awe-some!


Talk about climbing into the heavens on a pillar of fire!!
And here is a super slo-mo.













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