Only a few hours from now, we will mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the spaceflight mission that delivered Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins to the moon. I personally consider the Apollo program the greatest achievement of the human species, a feat of engineering, scientific know-how, and technological advancement that has yet to be matched or surpassed, as well as a testament to humanity’s perseverance and courage. It breaks my heart that so few people today seem to care that once, not so very long ago, mankind found a way to actually leave our planet and go somewhere else<\/i>. In person, not by robotic proxy. To stand on soil that had never felt a human footprint and just… experience<\/i> it. To fulfill our heritage and our destiny as explorers, just like the first hunter-gatherers who decided to walk over the hill and see what was over there. How can people not find that absolutely thrilling? And let’s not even speak of those who don’t believe<\/i> we went. I never will understand how those folks can be so cynical or hold such a dim opinion of their fellow humans as to think we couldn’t possibly have figured out how to do it.<\/p>\n
I’m just a tad too young to have experienced this amazing moment in history as it unfolded. I wouldn’t be born for two more months after Armstrong made that giant leap. And even though I’ve seen the documentaries, read the books, and grew up just generally knowing<\/i> about all this stuff, it’s hard for me to imagine what it must’ve been like for my parents and other people living at that time. Fortunately at times like these, we at least have the Internet.<\/p>\n
I’ve learned that NASA is going to begin streaming actual audio recorded during the mission, starting tomorrow morning at 6:32 central daylight time, two hours before the giant Saturn V booster rocket launched the Apollo spacecraft out of the atmosphere. The idea is that we’ll be hearing the transmissions between astronauts, ground teams, and Mission Control at the exact same moments they were broadcast in 1969. It’ll be just like being there… almost…<\/p>\n
Details on this nifty simulation can be found in this press release<\/a>. The audio will be streaming here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library<\/a> is hosting another similar, but more visually punchy site called WeChooseTheMoon<\/a>, a reference to JFK’s famous speech that set the ball rolling inexorably toward Tranquility Base. And if you’d like a visual to go with the audio, here’s a video recording of the actual TV coverage that you would’ve seen had you been watching the tube on this morning four decades ago. The quality isn’t great, sadly, but I still defy you not to feel a tingle down your back when those mighty engines start to rumble…<\/p>\n