American Flags Are Still Standing On The Moon

Still there: The flag planted by Apollo 17 astronauts in December 1972 -- the last manned mission to the moon -- is seen here in this image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera

New NASA Photos Reveal American Flags Planted During Moon Landings Proudly Yet Wave FOUR DECADES After Last Apollo Mission -- Daily Mail

Four decades after the last astronauts landed on the moon and planted an American flag in lunar soil, scientists wondered: 'Does that star spangled banner yet wave?'

Finally new images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) have given proof in the night, that the flags are, indeed, still there.

All but one of the six flags left by American astronauts remain standing, according to an analysis of the shadows they cast on the surface of the moon.

Read more ....

The Best Pic Of The Apollo 11 Moonwalks Published

(Click on Image to Enlarge)
March 14, 2012 -- The clearest view yet of the famous Apollo 11 landing site on the moon was captured by a NASA spacecraft in orbit around our planet's natural satellite.

Most Detailed View Yet of the Apollo 11 Moonwalks: Big Pic -- Discovery News

The agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) zeroed in on Mare Tranquillitatis, or the Sea of Tranquility -- the place where humans first touched down on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. The new image from LRO captures amazing details of the historic site, even revealing the remnants of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's first steps on the moon.

Read more ....

The Apollo Hoax Theories

Neil Armstrong/Keystone/Getty Images

From The Independent:

It is 40 years since the drama of the Apollo 13 mission turned an aborted mission to the moon from potential disaster into a celebrated recovery.

But doubts still linger about the moon landings. 9/11 and Kennedy aside, no event in world history has generated quite so many conspiracy theories than the Apollo moon landings. Do they stand up? Here are the best reasons why it couldn’t have happened, and the rebuttals. Of course, you may disagree.

Read more ....

Best View Yet Of Apollo Landing Site

The new LRO image. Click it to enlarge

From Scientific American:

A NASA spaceprobe has sent back the clearest photo yet of an Apollo landing site - including even the US flag. It clearly shows the descent stage of Apollo 17's lunar module Challenger, nearly 37 years after it touched down in December 1972 in the Taurus Littrow valley. The new LRO image. Click it to enlarge For the first time even its legs are visible, thanks to the detail possible with the orbiting digital camera.

Read more ....

Apollo Led To Cosmic Shift In Human Condition

The Earth is photographed, seemingly rising up from behind the Moon, by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders in December 1968. Credit: NASA

From Cosmos:

One of the many legacies of the Apollo program was the way it caused an extraordinary, enduring – and, for some, troubling – change in how we perceived the universe and our place in it.

Before Apollo, the Moon was distant and aloof, a symbol of everything that is unattainable, a place of dreams, an object of superstition and veneration.

After being explored by Apollo 11 on July 20 1969, the Moon's enigma was stripped away. Human willpower and the rigour of science revealed it to be an arid, airless, inhospitable rock for which there was little use as a resource.

Read more ....

Apollo Astronauts Bemoan State Of U.S. Space Program

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin (C) speaks at the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and his walk on the moon while at the NASA Headquarters in Washington July 20, 2009. From (L-R) David Scott (Apollo 15), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Charles Duke (Apollo 16). REUTERS/Larry Downing

From Reuters:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. investment in the Apollo space program, which landed men on the moon, paid off handsomely, unlike the $100 billion plowed into the International Space Station, Apollo's pioneering astronauts said on Monday.

""We opened the door to future of exploration by touching down on another body," Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, said at a press conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.

The United States staged six successful missions to the moon between 1969 and 1972, then developed the space shuttles and later, the space station.

Read more ....

How Did Moon Travel Change Astronauts?

Photo: For some lunar astronauts, traveling to the moon led them to new spiritual and philosophical sensibilities and even new career paths. (Getty Images)

From ABC News:

For Some, Going to the Moon Became a Spiritual, Philosophical Event.

In the history of humanity, only 24 men have shared the experience.

Forty years ago today, the first of the two dozen astronauts to fly to or around the moon rocketed away from Earth to make history. Twelve had the chance to walk on the moon's surface, though only nine of those are still alive today.

When they returned to Earth, they were scientists and explorers with no peers, at the pinnacles of their careers.

But for some the adventure was so epic it changed the course of their lives. Inspired and transformed by seeing Earth shrink to the size of their thumbs, many let new philosophical and spiritual sensibilities guide them. Others chose entirely new career paths.

Read more ....

Man Who Went To The Moon And Came Back An Artist

A Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum handout photo shows former astronaut Alan Bean in front of his easel at his art studio in Houston, Texas

From Yahoo News/AFP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Forty years after Alan Bean became the fourth man to walk on the moon, the now 77-year-old former astronaut still likes to share his memories of space flight with a broad audience -- by painting them.

Bean decided to make the switch from astronaut to artist a dozen years after the Apollo 12 mission that took him to the moon in November 1969 and after spending two months in space in 1973 on board Skylab, and his souvenirs from both missions dominate his artwork.

When, at age 49, he dropped a bombshell on his bosses and colleagues at NASA, telling them that he was leaving to become a full-time painter, they wondered if he wasn't in the throes of lunacy.

Read more ....

Man And Machine The Real Legacy Of The Moon Race

From Boston.com:

For the millions who watched the grainy television feed from the moon on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong’s small step seemed to herald a new era. Arthur C. Clarke had already predicted that the children born during the Apollo missions would one day have their passports stamped on the moon; in the lunar spectacle, we glimpsed a brighter future in which humans would conquer the vastness of space and acknowledge their brotherhood on the pale blue dot of the home planet.

And yet, 40 years on, the Apollo program looks less like the start of a new era and more like an ancient culture that flourished briefly and then vanished, leaving only ruined towers, ritual costumes, and incomprehensible glyphs. In the decades since the last towering Saturn V tore through the night sky, NASA’s astronauts have spent their time on modest missions closer to home. The age of easy space travel that Apollo seemed to promise never materialized. And for all its technological marvels, Apollo bequeathed little to our material culture besides instant orange drink, freeze-dried ice cream, and the statuettes of the MTV video music awards.

Read more ....

Lunar Orbiter Photographs Apollo Landing Sites

The Apollo 11 landing site, photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The scene is 925 feet across. (Credit: NASA)

From CNET News:

Forty years after the Apollo 11 voyage to the moon, NASA released photographs from the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft Friday showing five of the six Apollo landing sites. Shadows cast by the Apollo descent stages are clearly visible and in some cases, the moon walkers' paths can be seen in the disturbed dust.

"We were very interested in getting our first peek at the lunar module descent stages just for the thrill - and to see how well the cameras had come into focus," Mark Robinson, principal investigator of the LRO's main camera, said in a statement. "Indeed, the images are fantastic and so is the focus."

Read more ....

Weaving The Way To The Moon

Don Eyles says getting a job on the Apollo mission was probably the greatest stroke of luck in his life (Archive footage: MIT and Nasa)

From The BBC:

As Apollo 11 sped silently on its way to landing the first men on the Moon, its safe arrival depended on the work of a long-haired maths student fresh out of college and a computer knitted together by a team of "little old ladies".

Now, 40 years after Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, the work of these unsung heroes who designed and built the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) is back in the spotlight.

"I wasn't so aware of the responsibility at the time - it sort of sunk in later," said Don Eyles, a 23-year-old self-described "beatnik" who had just graduated from Boston University and was set the task of programming the software for the Moon landing.

Read more ....

Moon Landing Anniversary: 10 Reasons The Apollo Landings Were 'Faked'

Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969 Photo: AP

From The Telegraph:

Below is a list of ten of the most popular reasons given by conspiracy theorists who believe the Apollo Moon landings that began 40 years ago were faked.

1) When the astronauts are putting up the American flag it waves. There is no wind on the Moon.

2) No stars are visible in the pictures taken by the Apollo astronauts from the surface of the Moon.

Read more ....

The Moon Walkers: Twelve Men Who Have Visited Another World

Neil Armstrong in the Eagle after his historic moonwalk. Photograph: Nasa

From The Guardian:

What did it take to become a member of the most exclusive club in human history?

The 12 members of the most exclusive club in human history had many things in common.

All came from a highly technical background and all but one studied aeronautical or astronautical engineering. Growing up, many had been Boy Scouts and even more were active members of their University fraternities. They all went on to study for further degrees – many at military test pilot schools – and almost all of them saw active service in cold war skies, often flying nuclear weapons behind enemy lines.

These high-risk professions often claimed the lives of those to the left and right of them and frequently it was only luck that kept them alive long enough to apply to Nasa.

We might expect such parallel lives in men picked through a selection process devised to seek out "the right stuff". But despite the similarities in their CVs, no two men were from the same mould, as became evident in the years after Apollo.

Read more ....

Blasting Off the Moon's Surface: Apollo 11, The Untold Story

From Popular Mechanics:

After a 22-hour stay on the moon, Aldrin and Armstrong prepared to fire the ascent stage of the lunar module to launch back into lunar orbit. Here, Collins tries to find the Eagle with a telescope, Aldrin breaks the engine-arm circuit breaker and the lunar module executes a series of burns before docking and returning for splashdown.

H. David Reed, flight dynamics officer (FIDO), Green Team, Mission Control: My job was to come in prior to ascent, find out where they landed, and use that information to compute their launch time. Then we’d upload that to the crew. When I called the tracking people, the guy at the other end of the line said, “Dave, take your pick. I’ve got five different landing sites.” He said: We know where the lunar module thinks it landed, where the backup guidance system thinks it landed, where the radars on the ground tracked them, where we targeted them, and now we’ve got the geologists saying a different location.

Read more ....