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Sounds on for one minute trip to the moon, zooming on one of my high resolution telescope photographs. This journey took 4 days for the Apollo 11 astronauts, 50 years ago this month. A tribute to the first human landing on the moon on July 20, 1969
A fragment of the Allende meteorite, the most-studied meteorite on Earth.
In February 1969, the car-sized meteorite broke into thousands of smaller pieces over the desert, in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua. It is a carbonaceous chondrite – a very rare type of meteorite, occurring only 4% of the time, and this is the largest example ever found. And it contains components that are over 4.5 billion years old.
Why is this the most studied meteorite on Earth? Because it was a rare type, but also because of when it fell. Take a look at that date - guess why the US had just finished building a bunch of shiny new geochemistry laboratories at that point. Once it had been measured, it became a useful standard to compare other samples to.
Not sure I ever thought that video of a drone flying over a hill would combine with the audio of the Apollo 11 landing to make a piece of art, but well here we are.
We're a little bit after the anniversary of the Moon Landing but this USGS video on how the Geological Society and how scientists like Gene Shoemaker contributed to our understanding of the Moon and the Moon Landing is really good.
That’s one small step for man….
Throughout our history books we have tales of war and woe, violence and vengeance, centuries littered with hate and greed, blood and folly. BUT, every now and then, there’s a tale that stands out as a testament to human capability, innovation and imagination. Today, the 20th of July marks the anniversary of such an event: the day that human beings set foot on the Moon.
Launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Centre in Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16th, Apollo 11, containing three men, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on a journey to push the boundaries of possible.
Arriving on the Moon July at 20:18 UTC, Armstrong took his famous first step six hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC, followed by Aldrin. The men spent around two and a half hours roaming the Sea of Tranquility and together they collected 21.5 kg of lunar material to bring home to Earth. The two re-joined Collins in the Command Module and they returned to Earth landing in the Pacific Ocean on July 24th. Mission accomplished.
The first Moon landing was watched by an estimated 600 million people on television and remains one of the greatest achievements of humankind. Aside from experiencing another world, the astronauts who bravely journeyed to the Moon offered us not only the perspective of the lunar surface, but our home planet as well. From out there on the Moon, the fragility and beauty of our Earth was truly captured and this sentiment is best ascribed to a less famous quote from Neil Armstrong:
“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” Since the original Moon landing in 1969, 9 other astronauts have walked on the surface of the Moon; the last mission being in 1972. Over 40 years ago the human race accomplished an achievement that was arguably ahead of its time; it’s sad to think that nobody has been back since.
-Jean
Photos: (1) Collage of the Moon landing images. (2) The Earth seen from Apollo 11
Today is July 20th, 45th anniversary of humans setting foot on the moon. Here's photographs of the 2nd human ever to leave footprints on that body, Buzz Aldrin, descending the steps of the Lunar Module for the first time.
http://time.com/3001933/moon-landing-gifs-apollo-11-45th-anniversary/
