Man has always been fascinated by the sun, moon and stars. Even our remote, cave-dwelling ancestors must have looked up into the sky and wondered what they saw there. Were the sun and the moon gods? Or at least the dwelling faces of gods? Today, astronomy has become an exact science.
‘… I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.’ With these words, delivered in a speech at Rice University on 12th September 1962, President John F. Kennedy signaled the start of a space race that was to end with Neil Armstrong stepping on to the surface of the Moon.
In 1969, Sir Patrick Moore hosted the TV broadcast of the first moon landing on British television, expertly describing and explaining the sometimes hazy black and white pictures that were beamed back to an expectant Earth as Neil Armstrong took that first step onto an alien surface.
