First Clown on the Moon

Aeryn│Florida woman | Dave Bowman spoke to me through my computer screen | YT 🎬 @SpaceflightHistories

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Day 10 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

An Apollo 11 astronaut's boot and bootprint at the Sea of Tranquility

📸 NASA

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Day 9 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

July 24, 1969: Apollo 11 returns to Earth after successfully landing men on the moon for the first time

Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 210 nautical miles south of Johnston Atoll at 5:50 AM local time. The crew and spacecraft were recovered by the USS Hornet aircraft carrier and quarantined for 21 days in the mobile quarantine facility. Pictured is President Richard Nixon speaking with the astronauts in the MQF onboard Hornet's deck.

📸 NASA

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July 23, 1962: Telstar 1 transmits the first public live transatlantic television signal

Launched on July 10, Telstar 1 was the first active communications satellite and the first commercial payload in history. While its first transatlantic broadcast took place on July 11, it was not available to the public. Its first public live transatlantic TV program was broadcast in 7 languages to 16 European countries plus the US and Canada. It featured footage of American cities, President Kennedy's press conference, and a Chicago Cubs—Philadelphia Phillies baseball game at Wrigley Field in Chicago (too bad the hockey season was over).

Read more about early American communications satellites here!

📸 Smithsonian

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Day 8 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

Apollo 11's Saturn V rocket and mobile launcher are rolled out to Pad 39A from the Vehicle Assembly Building on May 20, 1969.

📸 NASA

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Day 7 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

Neil smiles inside Eagle after his historic moonwalk

📸 NASA

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July 22, 1951: Soviet space dogs Dezik and Tsygan become the first mammals to survive spaceflight

Two stray female dogs, Dezik and Tsygan, become the first dogs to fly in space onboard a Soviet R-1 rocket. The pair traveled to an altitude of 68 miles (110 kilometers) and were the first mammals successfully recovered from spaceflight. During the 1950s and ‘60s, the Soviet Union sent more than fifty dogs into space, some of which became the first living creatures to orbit planet Earth.

Read more about the Soviet space dogs here! 

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July 21, 1961: Gus Grissom becomes the second American in space onboard Mercury-Redstone 4

Mercury-Redstone 4 launched from LC-5 on Cape Canaveral on a 15-minute suborbital flight and Grissom became the third human in space (behind Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard). After splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, the explosive hatch of his capsule Liberty Bell 7 blew prematurely, causing water to flood inside. Grissom was rescued but the flooded capsule was too heavy to hoist so it was abandoned and sank to the bottom of the ocean where it remained for nearly 40 years.

Read more about Grissom's life and missions here!

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Day 6 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

Wayne Stayskal's Apollo 11 cartoon published in Chicago American Today on July 21, 1969. It references the photo "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" and the astronauts in white are the crew of Apollo 1 who gave their lives for the exploration of space.

📸 Chicago American Today

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Day 5 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 becomes the first mission to land men on the moon.

At 4:17 EDT, lunar module Eagle touched down at the Sea of Tranquility on the lunar surface. At 10:56, Neil Armstrong descended the ladder and set foot on the moon for the first time, declaring it “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” For the next 21 and a half hours, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted the American flag, took photos and samples of rocks and regolith, and left tributes to fallen astronauts and cosmonauts. 

Read more about Apollo 11 here!

📸 NASA

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Day 4 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

Here's Ralph Morse's photo of Buzz, Mike, and Neil with an inflatable moon

📸 TIME/Ralph Morse

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July 18, 1966: Gemini 10 launches

Gemini 10 was the 8th manned mission of the Gemini program and crewed by command pilot John Young and pilot Michael Collins. The pair docked with an Agena Target Vehicle and rendezvoused with Gemini 8's ATV, and Collins became the first person to perform two consecutive spacewalks.

📸 NASA

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Day 3 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

LM-5 Eagle was named after the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States. Eagle was the 3rd manned lunar module and safely landed Armstrong and Aldrin at Mare Tranquillitatis, or the Sea of Tranquility, at 4:17 PM, EDT, on July 20, 1969.

📸 NASA

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Cartoon of the American Apollo-Soyuz crew waiting for the Soviet crew drawn by Soyuz 19 commander Alexei Leonov | 📸 NASA

Read more about Apollo-Soyuz here!

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Day 2 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

Apollo 11's crew consisted of commander Neil Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins, and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin. Armstrong was selected as an astronaut in 1962 as a member of the second class of astronauts, the New Nine. Collins and Aldrin were selected in 1963. All three astronauts flew one mission each before Apollo 11—Armstrong as command pilot of Gemini 8, Collins as pilot of Gemini 10, and Aldrin as pilot of Gemini 12 in 1966.

📸 NASA

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Day 1 of 11 Days of Apollo 11

July 16, 1969: Apollo 11 launches on the first manned lunar landing mission

Apollo 11 launched from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 9:32 AM EDT. Nearly one million people watched liftoff from Florida's Space Coast's beaches and highways and another 600 million watched live on TV. Former president Lyndon B. Johnson, Vice President Spiro Agnew, rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, and aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh watched from the VIP section near the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Read more about Apollo 11 here!

📸 NASA

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A lot of you clearly don't understand that Artemis III being all men means fewer male astronauts will be eligible for Artemis IV and V. It just about guarantees at least one woman will be on each.

There are 37 active NASA astronauts (not including CSA/ESA/JAXA). 6 will not be in the candidacy pool for Artemis IV and V. That leaves 14 women and 17 men.

Every mission has its own specific objectives. Christina Koch was the most qualified person to fly Artemis II. NASA picked the four people most qualified to fulfill Artemis III's specific mission objectives.

It's perfectly fine to be annoyed or upset that Artemis III doesn't include a woman. But you're not going to demonize NASA and you're not going to act like no woman will ever fly in space again. Frankly, if you're outraged about this crew selection but cannot name an active female astronaut (other than Christina) or any of the women currently in space, you're a hypocrite.

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I love you all but some of you gotta understand they are picking the most qualified people to do this job. While other factors can affect these things, crews are supposed to cycle, that's how lovell was both on Apollo 8 and 13.

It's okay to be upset about no women being on Artemis III but also we have now had two black men and with a latino and Italian on board too even if one is white this is their mission to bring humanity back to the moon.

I don't understand why you guys think nasa is evil for this 😕 it sucks yeah but it's feels like people don't care about actually going back to the moon. Like my favorite astronaut ever is Neil Armstrong, I'm basic asf but like idk he seemed like genuine guy all of these astronauts are. Yes it does suck there's no women but like WE ARE GOING BACK TO THE MOON GUYS 😭😭😭😭