One Giant Step....

It was a tremendous achievement. In a similar way to the early pioneers of aviation. After all we now carry round many more times the computing power that was used to send mankind to the moon in our pockets.

However, I remember thinking at the time that I would probably see bases on the moon and even manned missions to Mars. In that respect we seem to have stalled. In the 60 years before the moon landing we went from Louis Bleriot flying the channel, to placing men on the moon. Since then, despite all our amazing advances and unmanned probes. Humans have gone no further. Not even to the extent of establishing a moonbase.

Yes I will be celebrating, but I can't help feeling a little disappointed.

It was and still is a great achievement ,my daughter was six months old and seemed to be mesmerised watching it on the tv , we had just been joined in the cc by FIL who had insisted we had our first caravan (a Robin,)as he was not having his first grandaughter in a tent ,actually it was a trailer tent, and also gave us a supply of gas mantles

I read this week that Neil Armstrong is one of the few people from the 20th century who will be remembered in the 30th Century. 

My Dad and I were riveted to the TV at the time,  my Dad no doubt was hoping all the electrical engineering bits worked and stuck together. It did make huge advancements and possibly showed it was better to send machines rather than people into the outer reaches of space. I think it was the most exciting thing I've seen.  (I'm also enjoying the programmes being shown just now.) 

Can you believe it? Apparently one in six people consider this event to be a conspiracy and was faked. Well that's according to a news item I've just seen on the BBC. I guess they also believe the earth is flat!

My grandad saw his first motorcar in the village and a man walk on the moon. He found it difficult to understand but never disbelieved it. I remember watching it happen with him on that incredible thing called a TV which he also saw invented in his lifetime and become a common household item. . 

It made riveting tv and I developed, like many other schoolboys and girls, a fascination with space. It made me look beyond our own insular earth.

I went to see a piece of moon rock on display in Liverpool museum soon after. I remember being a bit disappointed that it looked so ordinary but there was somebody there giving a talk that was excellent. Also went to Florida to the museums and displays they have. The actual capsule is there. Small? Mrs WN wouldn't get in if you paid her. Too claustrophobic for her yet 3 grown men managed it.

As far as conspiracy theories go how do you explain the fact that no-one from the hundreds who must have been in on it has ever broken cover. Not one as far as I'm aware.

SteveL is spot on. The size of those computers wouldn't power a calculator today. There was a great article in the i this week about the computers etc. that was truly mind boggling.

I was in the car listening on the radio as I was returning to camp.  Got to the critical point leaving Northampton and got hauled by the police looking for an escaped prisoner.  If any of you were that policeman thanks very much

I think in terms of that step being the dawn of contemporary history. But I don’t see the technology as having stalled. The two space stations, International and Chinese, are a long way from Apollo. Communications, entertainment and navigation satellites abound. We’ve taken a close look at Saturn and Mars. The accelerant for aviation has unfortunately been war, which focussed money and minds during its early years. The other driver is profit. Financial rewards for landing on Mars don’t match the roll out of 4K TV technology.

The world has changed. Early photographs of the earth from space can be gin clear, over the years, atmospheric haze has considerably degraded them.

Viewing the future accurately requires some very liberated thinking. We see posts on this forum telling us that we don’t need mobiles or TV on club sites. Ground breaking films like 2001 are portrayed with cathode ray screens, HAL is monstrously large with slide out electronics. Politicians talk about 100% electric power for cars, which we don’t have the generation capacity or the distribution networks for. Scientists on the other hand are stretching capability into new areas. Targeting cancer drugs on specific areas by injecting them, mixed with a ferrous compound, which accumulate in the magnetically energised location of choice. Will we ever see a genuinely 3D image free of screens, which can be viewed from any angle? Well actually ‘yes’ Disney does it by interacting lasers with water spray. That’s not yet sitting room technology, but it’s a step on the way. Without doubt, space technology excites people, but terrestrial technology developments have been amazing too.