Mars missions from 1960 til present

Nice graphic by Bryan Christie of Mars missions starting with Marsnik 1 in 1960 to the Dawn launched in September 27, 2007.

[Via Laughing Squid]

Exploring the Moon from (Google) Earth

Google has announced the release of Moon in Google Earth which allows intrepid desktop or laptop explorers to view images of the moon, learn about the different Apollo lunar missions landing sites, or see the panoramic shots taken by lunar astronauts. A fantastic for to learn more about the moon and in understanding our efforts to reach the space beyond.

[via Macworld]

40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission

It has been 40 years since man first landed on the moon and to commemorate this momentous event NASA has put up a streaming broadcast of the Apollo 11 audio that coincides with events from 40 years ago. The streaming broadcast started July 16, the date of the Apollo 11 launch, and will end July 24, when the three astronauts came back to Earth.

Aside from the streaming broadcast of the Apollo 11 mission audio, NASA's Apollo 40th Anniversary page has links to restored videos of the moonwalk, Apollo 11 Spacecraft audio, mission images, and a whole lot more.

Journey to the Moon

Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 at 13:32 UTC (July 16, 1969 at 9:32 PM, Philippine Standard Time or PST). Onboard Apollo 11 were Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.

They reached moon orbit on July 19 and after 30 orbits around the moon, the lunar module, Eagle, separated from the command module, Columbia, on July 20 to begin its descent into the Sea of Tranquility.



At 20:17 UTC (July 20 at 4:17 AM PST):

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

Then on July 21 at 02:56 UTC (July 21 at 10:56 AM PST), Neil Armstrong descended from the lunar module:

That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.

Buzz Aldrin follows him 18 minutes later.



Aldrin and Armstrong left the lunar surface on July 21 at 17:54 UTC to rendezvous with Collins on the Columbia command module.

They splashed down back to Earth on July 24 in the Pacific Ocean.

Behind the Scenes

The story behind Apollo 11 and the subsequent lunar missions had a lot more going than what we've perceived through the media all these years.

The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal is a collection of audio and video recordings, photographs, transcripts, mission plans, maps, reports, and interviews of the different Apollo lunar missions, from Apollo 11 to Apollo 17.

For the Apollo 11 mission, there are the actual audio recording and transcript of the first lunar landing and of the famous one small step (those words were spoken at 109:24:48).

Most of the materials are technical but the journal provides a nice peek at the point in history.

Image credits to NASA.