To science journalists and general assignment reporters, commenters (what is a commentator anyway – one who commentates?), essayists, cultural history scriveners and others who have been roped into writing on Apollo 11′s 40th anniversary and who are not on the cusp of a new job or retirement: condolences. In just ten years it will be the big five-oh (gad, what a trite phrasing – more on tritemess is one post topic down). And in said ten years there will be an even bigger outpouring on the first steps on the moon in media including whatever is left of or has replaced in ascendant triumph the newspaper as we know it. What will you all have left in the tank?

The Tracker is looking forward to the 50th. For 2019 there are three high possibilities for giving extra meaning to the anniversary. One is that NASA’s current, precarious mission to get people back to the moon will have gone forward more or less as sketched by the last administration and, presumably, be close to planting a fresh flag. Two is that the program gets scuttled and there is little prospect for any such thing within the lifetimes of the original dozen Apollo moon walkers (imagine the second landing sharing in common with the first that it will do something no other living person did) A variant on scenario #2 is that Moon II is out but a robust Mars expedition is on the burner. Three is that the US is out as solo lunar expeditionist, but a program from China or India or maybe Russia or Japan or Europe-ESA is about to get there, maybe in an international mash up and land rush with or without us. Any such scenario will provide more punctuation and vivid contrast than does the 40th today, an anniversary with limbo as its context.

This is this site’s third post on the 40th – one for last Tuesday’s Science Times, one on Thursday for the launch’s anniversary, and the ensuing torrent for the landing. Not all these stories ran yesterday or today. In a far from comprehensive liste here are some that strike the eye as unusual in approach, or in heft. With apologies to the networks and other broadcast reporters, time limits the post mainly to print coverage. I’ll try to update this with any good pieces for which readers send me links via the suggest story function at this site’s top. And so, broken roughly into categories and with apologies for not having time to assemble some from television outlets, here we go…

Big Wrap-Up Stories and large packages:

• First up is AP‘s Seth Borenstein with a load of pieces (the illus is from one of AP’s many multimedia links to the text stories). Borenstein filed over a period of days. Many were held by outlets for the weekend or today. His experience shows in this line-up, with stories reported and handled with balance and considerable original reporting. It includes, notably, a caution from astronauts of Apollo 11′s crew: Moon less interesting than Mars; an examination of Apollo’s enormity in 40 years later, moon still giant leap for mankind ; A reminder this really is history in Where were you when Apollo 11 landed? Not born yet. ; NASA lost moon footage, but Hollywood restores it;  and Famous lost word: the ‘a’ in ‘one small step’ line ;
• Houston Chronicle – Eric Berger: 40 years after Apollo 11 / Those who were there relive the worry and the glory ; With extensive linked multimedia.
• USA Today – Traci Watson: 40 years after Apollo 11: What’s our next step? ;
• NPR/Talk of the Nation – Ira Flatow: Marking 40 Years Since Apollo ;
• ABC Australia The Science Show – Robyn Williams: Forty Years since Apollo 11 – first manned mission to the moon ;  A double history lesson: The mission 40 years ago as it was seen in a press conference 20 years ago – one interesting as much for the questions the press asked, as the answers.
• Wash. Post – Nelson Hernandez: When Will the Next ‘Giant Leap’ Happen? ; celebration mixed with melancholy marks the day. And today, “On Anniversary of Moonwalk, Apollo Astronauts Debate Financial Restraints” ; These link to a hefty WaPost Package: Apollo 11′s 40th Anniversary . In features meaty offerings from such writers as Howard McCurdy, Kim Stanley Robinson, Michael Griffin, Marcia Bartusiak, Jennifer Ouellette, and more.
• Bild (Germany): Apollo 11 landed 40 years ago today! (with links to other looks back) ;

Local, offbeat, or finely focussed:

• Telegraph (UK) Heidi Blake: Apollo 11 moon landing: the fun side of space travel  ;
• Wall St. Journal – Stephanie Simon : One Small Step for Man, One Giant Mess in the Spacecraft / NASA Plans Another Lunar Landing, but Oh! That Nasty Moon Dust ; Each particle is really jagged. A moon colony thus, she writes, would require dusting as a high art ; And the dust is so special that it is exceedingly hard to make it here on Earth, even for practicing how to deal with it on the Moon.
• PC Advisor (UK)  Keith Shaw : The 10 best technologies from Apollo 11 ; Actually, from the space program overall ;
• AP – Jim Heintz: Russia still blue over moon landing 40 years later ;
• AP – Marcia Dunn: Apollo 11 crew: Aldrin likes spotlight, 2 shun it ;
• Miami Herald: As NASA marks 40th anniversary of moon landing, it looks toward Mars ; Reason to post this is that it is from “staff and wire services.” Sign of the times that a dominant Florida paper doesn’t do it entirely in house.
• Orlando Sentinel – Kevin Spear: Apollo 11 anniversary: To the moon and beyond;
• Weekly Standard – Stuart Koehl: From the Moon to Hanoi ; Definitely offbeat and a mere blog. But fascinating to learn of Apollo and the POWs who knew of it, sort of.
• Toledo Blade – Tom Walton: America soared when the Eagle landed ; A column on, in part, a local boy made good (Wapakoneta’s Neil Armstrong) and a reminder of times when news travel budgets and staffs were different. At the time, he writes, his paper covered the mission from launch to splashdown and “The Blade’s science editor… the nationally respected Ray Bruner, was assigned to the launch at Cape Canaveral…”. A different time, it was.
• Al Jazeera: Q&A: Was the moon landing worth it? ; Some pointed, very broad questions handled by the senior curator at the Air & Space Museum.

OP EDs:

• The Australian: US program loses its way 40 years after triumph ;

Apollo Miscellany:

•  Wash. Post – Joel Achenbach: Apollo 11′s Bright Glare . Rocket Men ; A book review is the hook, but Achenbach riffs wider than the book.

Grist for the Mill:

• NASA Apollo 40th Anniversary ;
• NASA Press Release: Lunar Resonnaisance Orbiter Sees Apollo Landing Sites ;
• NASA Press Release: NASA Mourns the Death of Walter Cronkite ;

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Science Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.