Today I have a cold, so I snuggled up under a blanket to watch the film “Apollo 11” I’d seen a bit of it when it was broadcast, I thought it looked great, so I got the DVD to watch the whole thing.

That was 1969, the culmination of a massive effort after competing with the Russians to get there first. I remember when I was a kid, we watched a moon landing on TV, maybe it was the same one, or a later one I don’t know, but all that shaped my childhood quite a bit, I remember the talk at school was about how we might grow up to be astronauts too! LOL not so much.

It’s still amazing to watch that footage today, over 50 years after it happened, I was 5 years old in 1969 when they done it, but it did put a positive spin on things. What was the point in going to the moon? They made a big thing thing of it being done in the name of peace and mankind and all that, but they planted their flag on it, so everyone knew they were really up to something else, but even so, we were amazed by it all and enjoyed watching the things they did, it made great TV! 

They had cameras all over the rocket ship when it took off, I think it was really like a massive publicity scoop for them, today its really obvious that was advertising for the USA, it wouldn’t have got so many viewers if it hadn’t been so well documented by the cameras, the conversations with the astronauts and their children and the president phoning them, and the One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind – all that, it was just like wow! Amazing! Ha,ha, what was the point in going to the moon? Yeah, giant leap they say, man has always wanted to walk on the moon? Really?? I never really thought about it to be honest!

Anyhow, all these years later things seem so different, America seemed to be so sure of where it was going in that movie, but really the Vietnam war was in full swing, and no doubt there were loads of domestic problems going on in their society, its a wonder really why people put up with all that wasted money on going into space.

William Shatner (AKA Captain Kirk) recently went for a short trip to space in that Jeff Bezos space ship, he said he felt great sadness cos in space there is really nothing, its all back here on earth is where its all at, he felt very concerned about the future of our planet, to turn your back on our planet is such a crime really. In the movie the astronauts frequently point out how beautiful the blue planet is out the window, its hard to imagine how it must feel to see that little blue sphere, no bigger than a pea, containing everything you know and love, surrounded by the black depths of space!

I was watching something last night about the ice caps melting and all that sort of thing, and those nutters are going to waste billions going to the moon?? For what?? I’m not bitter, it was great TV, and it did shape my view growing up, I love to see what humans get up to, I often feel like a god watching them, cos I don’t want to admit to actually being one myself!! 😀 😀