Lunar Landing

Today is the 40th anniversary of the launch of the first lunar landingmission by astronauts from the United States of America. Apollo 11 was the culmination of a decades long effort to send man into space, then sending men to the moon without landing, then finally sending a small craft holding two men to land on the surface of Earth's nearest heavenly neighbor. The Apollo program involved ten's of thousands of people working at all levels to achieve the ultimate objective, that of placing a man on the moon and returning him safely.

The first steps of Neil Armstrong onto the Sea of Tranquility in 1969 is the best remembered moment of man's journeys into space. However, the Apollo program was more than just those few steps, both before and after. Men died during the program, most notably the deaths of the astronauts in the testing phase of Apollo 1, and lunar landings took place after Apollo 11, landings that stayed on the surface longer and were able to do more experimentation than their predecessor.

President Nixon told astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, the last two astronauts to walk on the moon, congratulations on being the last men to walk on the moon this century, referring to the twentieth century. This prediction would come true as future Apollo missions were shelved in favor of budget cuts and the 'reusable' space shuttle. NASA is now in the early phases of a return to the moon, the Orion project.

A great source of information and articles on the lunar landings is Galileo. You might try searching for 'Apollo program,' 'lunar landing,' and 'Apollo 11.' Get the current password from your Georgia librarian. You may also search for books related to the lunar missions in Worldcat a database in Galileo that helps you to identify the closest library that owns a particular book.

Another option is to watch the television miniseries 'From the Earth to the Moon.' Hosted and produced by Tom Hanks, the series is a dramatization of the Apollo program, with one episode devoted to each of the missions. Many consider the best episode to be the one about Apollo 12, the second lunar landing. The series is based upon a book by author Andrew Chaikin.

And remember that on July 20th in 1969, the world became a little bit smaller . . .

JWF