* the Los Angeles Times has a great article on the engineering side of building the Saturn V rocket. It seems it was a remarkably close call that they sorted out all of the engine problems in time, and it's noted that the Russians failed in their competitive attempt due to their engineering failure in overcoming the same problems.
* Edgar Mitchell, a moonwalker from Apollo 14, gives a brief interview about his experience. He's of note because of his (some would say) esoteric interests in ESP, global consciousness, UFO's and such like.
* Those who worked at the NASA Australia radio dishes have been spreading the word that the movie "The Dish" gets the history wrong. The first images of Armstrong stepping out did not come through the radio dish at Parkes:
Some will know the story of the movie 'The Dish' which tells a 'Hollywood-view' of what happened. However, the radio telescope at Parkes was not the dish that provided those first images. In fact those views first came through the NASA station in Goldstone, California, but an incorrect switch setting and poor ground-links meant that their TV picture was upsidedown and poor contrast (although the sound was perfect).
With moments to spare before Armstrong was on the surface, NASA looked to the Parkes Radio Telescope, Tidbinbilla and the Honeysuckle Creek tracking stations. Parkes didn't have a strong signal at the time due to the low position of the Moon above their horizon. Tidbinbilla was supporting the Command Module. Honeysuckle Creek was prime on the Lunar Module with the astronauts on the surface. They had a TV image and this was being transmitted through ABC studios in Sydney to TVs around Australia. NASA saw the feed coming through Honeysuckle and switched over for the international broadcast to their picture - meanwhile the sound for the international broadcast was still coming through Goldstone.
The first 8 minutes of the broadcast including Armstrong's first steps on the Moon were seen through the transmissions received at Honeysuckle Creek. Once the Moon was higher in their sky, the TV picture at Parkes' larger dish were then relayed over to Houston and the remaining 2 hours of the Moonwalk were seen through that antenna.
* According to one report, Neil Armstrong thinks going back to the Moon first is the better choice than planning on going to Mars. I agree. See some of my previous posts here, here and here.
* The Daily Telegraph paints a picture of Armstrong as a recluse who doesn't want anyone knowing who he is. The article gets better, but at the start it makes it sound like he lives in a spooky looking house and the local kids throw stones at "Boo Armstrong". The Independent has a more flattering look at Armstrong and all of the Apollo astronauts.
As for my recollections of the day, I have to make an embarrassing admission. While an avid follower of all things NASA since I was a child, my memory of where exactly I watched Armstrong stepping out has become blurred. This is because some of the time, they set up a TV at school and we watched Apollo 11 stuff in the classroom, but I am also pretty sure that they allowed us home to watch the first footstep there. Certainly, I see other Australians have posted that their school let them go home, so I think I probably watched it in glorious black and white (the only TV that existed in Australia at the time, moon landing or not) at home. I was 8; I guess there isn't a whole lot I can remember specifically about that year.
One would think my memory of this would be clearer, but for years I have realised I do not have as good a recollection as I would have hoped.
Update: the NASA orbiter photos of the Apollo landing sites can all be seen here.
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