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.