On July 16th, 1969, the largest rocket ever built thundered off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, delivering three men and the equipment and supplies they would need to land two of them on the moon and return the three of them safely to earth, fulfilling the national goal declared eight years earlier. The anniversary of the landing is this coming Sunday.
I hope its not going to be another 39 years before the rest of us can go. C'mon, NewSpace, hurry up!
I am just not old enough to remember this so well, and it be 39 years ago. I don't feel 54. Except when it's cold or raining. Or there are too many steps.
Maybe it is 39 years.
Happy Anniversary everyone.
They've been showing a lot of Apollo documentaries on the various Discovery channels leading up to the anniversary. One interesting fact that was recently discovered is that the Saturn rocket was not quite man-rated as they thought back in the '60s. If a single F1 failed on the 1st stage before the rocket cleared the tower the crew would have been lost. It turns out that the arming mechanisms for the escape tower took several seconds to activate. With the loss of an engine the rocket would have keeled over into the ground before the tractor motor could have even fired.