ABC Radio ~ Apollo 11 Splashdown

The flight of Apollo 11 spawned an entire cottage industry of commemorative LP records. CBS issued an LP (similar to what they did with the '68. '69 and '70 year in review albums) and a 7" record (33 1/3 rpm). Metromedia and others did too, with audio highlights of their respective news coverage. ABC Radio released an album and small hardcover book that showcased their network broadcast. Here's a small snippet from the tail end of side B. The splashdown description is followed by a summary (along with Nixon's "life on other worlds speech" !) and hopeful words about the future of manned space exploration...done in that wonderful late 60's style.

Since I couldn't load an audio file directly to the site, I encapsulated the audio within a static video. Next time I do this, I promise that I'll make it more fancy!

Poster Day I

I've created a number of fan-art related posters, and would like to share one with you. In my collection is a sheet of the moon landing stamp (Scott C76) issued in September, 1969. This commemorative is a classic design, and featured prominently in the Smithsonian Postal Museum exhibit Stamps Take Flight. I'll have more to say about that exhibition (which closed in 2006) in a future post. The artwork at the top is the official Apollo 40th anniversary logo that NASA released earlier this year.

Apollo 11 Splashdown

TV viewers couldn't see the actual splashdown as it happened. The recovery of the astronauts (with their biological garments in place) could be seen via a well placed TV camera onboard the helicopter. After they were flown to the Hornet, the astronauts went directly into an isolation trailer (it looked like an Airstream). President Nixon greeted them in person. This magical adventure came to an end, but there were six more Apollo missions yet to be flown.

An Ugly (but Beautiful) Spacecraft

At this point in the mission, the astronauts were preparing for their re-entry to earth.
It was during this period that Volkswagen ran a very popular ad comparing the Beetle with the Lunar Module. It was a very good analogy; The LM looks almost bug-like in appearance.

Apollo 11 Inward Bound

All three astronauts are back in the Command Module, and are coasting to the home planet. Here's an interesting article from the Daily News. Nixon believed that we would find life on other worlds before the end of the (20th) century!

Apollo Linkup

The journey going to the moon was exciting and hair-raising; the trip home was even more so. The ascent engine on the Lunar Module had to work perfectly, and it performed well. Armstrong and Aldrin were reunited with Mike Collins in the Command Module. The Lunar Module was jettisoned, ultimately headed for impact with the moon's surface. The voyage home had begun.



There were quite a few TV specials on last night celebrating the moon landing. The History Channel showed a short 30 minute segment entitled "Live from '69." It had some Wally-to-Wally coverage, but it was far too short. The only segments I hadn't seen before were the Disneyland and Central Park remote segments, and some intros. I wish that they could have shown a lot more. When I was at the Paley Media Center last week, the library catalog had quite a few recordings (liftoff, moon walk, and splashdown) of this coverage (possibly in excess of 8 hours).

Check out the CBS News website for the video "1969, The Epic Journey," which appears to be a 49 minute summary of the mission that Cronkite narrated (and broadcast after Apollo 11 had splashed down).

10:56:20 PM EDT, July 20, 1969

Like millions of others, I watched this on a black and white Zenith 17" TV, with rabbit ears. These images have stayed with me since that time.

Uncle Walter 1916-2009

CBS Apollo 11 Exhibit

There is a limited time exhibit at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, located on 52nd street (near 5th Avenue) entitled "Apollo 11: Forty Years Later."

http://www.paleycenter.org/apollo-11-forty-years-later

The exhibit is within the Spielberg Gallery (ground floor). There are multiple poster panels depicting scenes from the CBS Apollo 11 coverage from launch to landing. The still shots are from the famous CBS book, "10:56:20PM 72069."



Cameras are not permitted in the gallery, but I snuck in my iPhone to take a few pictures. Here's a shot of the panel depicting the liftoff sequence:

Here's a better view of the filmstrip from the Paley site:

In addition, there are four monitor displays showing the following:

"The Moon Above, The Earth Below," CBS News 1989
"Man on the Moon," CBS News Special 1989
"From the Earth to the Moon: "Mare Tranquiltatis," HBO 1998
"Moon Shot," Turner Productions 1994

See this exhibit before it closes!

Launch Day !

On July 16, 1969, at precisely 9:32am EDT, the Greatest Adventure began!

A still photo from the CBS launch coverage two minutes before launch.

Searching for the Big Rocket

In 1969, Revell Models released a huge 1/96 scale Apollo-Saturn V stack. Earlier that year, I mailed in a request to Revell for a catalog, and a copy of the assembly instructions. Unfortunately, I could not afford the $12 (which is equivalent to around $97 today) and buy this rocket model at the time. I remember passing by a shelf full of these models at the local Bradlees department store.

As you can see, I checked off all the other great spacecraft models that I built. Most ended up hanging from the ceiling of my bedroom. The only Saturn V model that I was able to afford was the 1/144 scale Monogram version. I always considered this one to be a poor imitator!

Years later (and more precisely in 1982), Revell issued their History Makers kits. Happily, the original Saturn V model was made available again. Revell Germany re-released it in 1994 in celebration of the 25th moon landing anniversary. More recently, at a local hobby shop, I stumbled upon a near mint-in-box unbuilt kit, with original instructions, decals, and a mail-in coupon for the Moonlighter record. I now have a complete set!

CBS Apollo 11 Coverage

Over the years, I've collected bits and pieces of the US networks' coverage (i.e. CBS, NBC, and ABC) of the Apollo 11 mission. There have been a few compilations re-broadcast over the last two decades, the 20th anniversary being the most prominent. CBS has released two separate versions of these on VHS tape (and CED and Laservision disk). The first was issued around 1981, and the second in 1989. The former has also been recently found in DVD format. In 1994, ABC sold a condensed 6-hour VHS set of their coverage. A&E broadcast some of the NBC coverage back in 1989.

Many years ago, I saw the original CBS moonwalk coverage at the Museum of Television and Radio (now Paley Center for Media) in New York. I hope someday CBS will release the entire coverage for nuts like me who would gladly purchase it!

The video segment shown below is the introduction portion of the CBS coverage prior to launch and is reconstructed from two sources. The bulk is from a PBS NOVA segment "Twenty-Five Years in Space," originally shown 12/06/1983. A portion of the sound is from the CBS CED disc "Man on the Moon." Two years after I created this edit, I stumbled on the missing commercial interstitial from Kellogg which appeared in the DVD release of "In the Shadow of the Moon." Unfortunately, that short segment is not included here.

Lunar Module

The 4th of July weekend is over, and it's back to reality! Today's post is a a graphic from the Cradle of Aviation Museum located in Garden City, NY. This wonderful museum has a great selection of memorabilia and hardware showcasing the history of Long Island aviation. A must-see is the restored Lunar Module. This poster is a good cutaway of the the ascent and descent stages.

Dreams

Here's a clipping I've kept from the Daily News dated 7/25/69. Like many kids from my generation, I was very inspired by this, and every subsequent moon landing. It shaped my education and career path and led me to an engineering profession within the aerospace field. I wish that the current generation had a seminal event like this to shape their future course in life.