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.