Water on Moon Confirmed
[caption id="attachment_243" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Space Probe Photographs Apollo Sites
What a way to celebrate 40 years since Apollo 11 landed on the Moon! The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been passing over the old Apollo landing sites and has sent back images in which you can just make out the descent stages of the old lunar modules.
The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Descent Stage
Activity at the Apollo 14 landing site
For full details about these images and higher resolution pictures, visit the LRO site.
Neil Armstrong Took His Step …
… today, forty years ago. On 20th July 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on another planet. How will you celebrate today?
Neil Armstrong (courtesy of NASA, Andrew Chaikin)
New Scientist has compiled a top ten of Apollo music for your 40th anniversary party. Or why not delve into the history with the NCS course The Story Of Apollo?
After 40 years the achievement is still staggering and seems to be nearly impossible. Let’s celebrate Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins and all of the NASA support team who made the trip possible.
Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Begins
40 years ago, today, the Saturn V rocket carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins was launched. This event marked the beginning of mankind’s greatest journey and would see John F Kennedy’s pledge completed and a man landed on the Moon and returned safely to Earth.
At 9.32 (local time) on the morning of 16th July 1969, the huge Saturn V rocket lifted clear of the launch pad and Apollo 11 was safely on its way. In twelve minutes the third stage of the rocket, with the Apollo spacecraft attached, was in orbit around the Earth. After one and a half orbits, the third stage rockets fired and Apollo 11 was on its way to the Moon.
Follow The Story Of Apollo with the New Curiosity Shop.
Thank you to NASA for the images.
New Moon Mission Launched
The celebrations of forty years since the Apollo 11 moon landing are heating up and now we have a new moon mission on its way. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took off from Cape Canaveral on Thursday and will photograph the lunar surface in higher resolution than ever before. Images with a resolution of 1 m should be able to pick out equipment left behind at the old Apollo sites, including the LEM descent stages. The conspiracy theorists can work out their own version of these images we’re sure.
The LRO will also laser map the Moon and look for signs of water ice in permanently shadowed craters. A companion spacecraft, launched on the same booster, called LCROSS, will crash land in one of those craters in an attempt to kick up some of the buried ice that may be buried there.
There is more information and regular updates at the LRO website.
NCS Moon Mission
The Story Of Apollo
The New Curiosity Shop has just launched a new kind of course. A mix between a science course and a history course, The Story Of Apollo will take learners back to the cold war era to examine the cultural factors and the engineering that made possible the US moon missions and the eventual landing of men on the Moon in 1969.
Astronomy tutor, Mark Toner said, “It is nice to branch out into another field that is of interest to me. Now the events which inspired me as a child are the stuff of history. I hope that I can transmit some of my enthusiasm to the students who take this new course.”
The Story Of Apollo is live now, and you can investigate it on the NCS web site.
Space Band bids to raise millions for UNICEF
We're Going To The Moon For Christmas
Progressive space folk band Arbelos is offering its Christmas single for free on the band’s website. Song writer Mark Toner explains that, while the song is a typical fun Christmas song, it also draws attention to the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 8′s historic Moon mission and asks questions about what the world did with all the promise of better things that was raised in those days. The song is entitled “We’re Going To The Moon For Christmas” and carries a hopeful message in our troubled times.
Jane Chidwick, wife of keyboard player Noel Chidwick, suggested that a Christmas song would be a good opportunity to do some good in the world and the single is offered for a free download, but with an invitation to pay whatever the listener considers it is worth to UNICEF. The band hope that UNICEF will do very well out of this arrangement and that the musicians will build up some positive Christmas spirit for themselves in the process. More from the Arbelos website….
