It’s odd to think that the Apollo space program that culminated with the landing of a man on the moon on July 20 1969 is now ancient history. This year’s 40th anniversary is the ideal excuse for a series of dramas, documentaries and drama-documentaries, as well as a whole host of non-fiction books, celebrating the achievement of Neil Armstrong and the many others who helped get him to Tranquillity Base. That’s why I’ve started this blog: as a place to explore my own fascination with the now-historical moonshot.
I’ve always been fascinated with space travel. Having witnessed Armstrong’s initial moonwalk (in news footage, not live presumably) a mere two months before my second birthday, I was clearly excited by the whole thing. According to my Dad, I bounced up and down, pointing at the TV, chanting: “Man in moon! Man in moon!”
That interest has never faded. Although the Apollo program ended in 1972, when I was around five years old, the whole enterprise still had a hold on my imagination. I recall being ill at home with chicken pox later in the 1970s, pouring over a wonderfully-illustrated library book all about the space program. That was enough to stop me scratching…
Given that manned exploration of our near celestial neighbours quickly ground to a halt, my interest became subsumed in science fiction (with Doctor Who, Star Trek and Star Wars being my prime interests). Film and TV SF, then novels, fuelled my fascination for space in a way that the real contemporary space program could not.
While I followed Voyager and recall rushing home from school to witness the first launch of the space shuttle, nothing has quite had the same magic for me that Apollo had. Now it’s 40 years later. This anniversary offers a great chance to look back at that optimistic moment in man’s history.
In this blog I’m going to be commenting on the up-coming series of celebratory programmes that are running on TV through the month of July (and at the NFT in London), as well as reviewing the various moonshot-related books coming my way over the next few weeks.
I’m sure there’ll also be aspects of the Apollo moonshot that attract my attention that’ll be worth examining in detail. Maybe you’ll want to join me in looking back at a time when Humankind was looking forward to new adventures on the ‘high frontier’?
Image Credit: NASA
By the time I was getting interested in manned space travel (about 1976, when I was 5, and Reg Turnbull on Newsround was the fount of all knowledge) the Apollo program was over. I find it really odd to think that, 40 years on, while most 'kids of today' could probably tell you that, yes, man has been to the moon, Neil Armstrong was the first man there, and he said something about 'one small step', that's probably where their knowledge ends. If they have heard of Buzz Aldrin, it's because they saw that epsiode of The Simpsons he was on. So, one of mankind's greatest achievements has been reduced to a Simpsons cameo (albeit a funny one). Anyway, enough hurrumphing. I shall enjoy checking in with this blog. I wonder if there will be a re-release for Brian Eno's Apollo? That's one of my favourite ever albums.
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