- Everyone knows of President Kennedy’s famous speech when he committed the USA to land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth. Less well-known is a memo to Vice President Agnew where he seemed to be in despair about the USA position after early Soviet successes, writing “Is there any space program … which we could win ? Are we working 24 hours a day on existing programs ? If not, why not?” Click here for full text.
- The first images of the far side of the Moon were taken by a Soviet probe called Luna 3 in 1959. They were actual photographs, chemically developed on the lunar probe, scanned on board and then transmitted back to Earth. It seems a very complicated way of doing things !
- The Soviet progress was severely hampered when their leading rocket expert, Korolev, died in 1966 after a botched operation. Who knows how things might have panned out but for that ?
- The mapping of the Apollo zone was begun in 1961 at the Lowell Observatory. This was seen as a cartography project. Obviously telescopic photographs were used for information but the final product was a relief drawing. I’ve since found out that the original team consisted of three people : 2 observers Cannell and Greenacre and one illustrator, Mrs Bridges . Here is a quote about how the team worked , “A telephone link was established between the telescope and the office. Often, when Cannell or Greenacre was observing, Mrs Bridges would be working on the drawing in the office. When seeing conditions became exceptionally good or the illumination of some feature was of particular interest, Mrs Bridges was telephoned to hustle up to the telescope for a first-hand look.” (Taken from Wikispaces: History of the LAC maps ) Good for Mrs Bridges , one of the unsung heroes of the space race.
- Chinese media carried no news in 1969 of the Apollo 11 mission.
Talk given by FAS member Laurence Anslow
Post written by Katherine Rusbridge
April 2014