40 years of achievement, a kind of tribute to Apollo 11 and 13

Well today I write this on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the US Apollo 11 Moon landing and I'm actually pretty excited about it.

Despite what other people think about it, I think we did land on the moon and I hope the plans to one day return there, even though all the reading I have done about it this weekend points to it sounding more sci-fi than the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

That movie in reality has shown that some of it's ideas have come to be true though so I shouldn't rubbish the stuff I've seen and read just because to me they seem far fetched. Though the only one thing I can think of off the top of my head from the movie that has come to actually exist is the video phone Dr. Floyd uses to call his daughter when he is at the space port awaiting his "Pam Am Spaceway's" flight to the moon. And that's because I use Skype and make video calls over it!

Though with all the stuff that all the various forms of media will be shoving in our faces tomorrow, I wonder if anyone will ask former US Astronaut Jim Lovell what he thinks about the 40th anniversary of the moon landing? I ask this because Jim Lovell was the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, the only planned manned mission to the moon that never landed due to an accident that could have potentially killed the crew, but thankfully returned the crew to earth safely instead.

I watched Apollo 13 again on Saturday night and I have it on DVD as well as own the novel and I must say that before the lunar landing, he sounds like Lovell was quite possibly the most famous American Astronaut with NASA (read his Wikipedia article I have attached below). Though sadly history has had him lose that crown to Neill Armstrong. But I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily seeing as Jim Lovell doesn't seem to mind not being the one in that spotlight that Neill Armstrong is in in the world of celebrities (yes I actually consider these pioneers of space celebrities as they actually have done something compared to movie stars and singers who just sing and act).

Though talk about luck with Apollo 13! I'm glad though that they got back to Earth OK in the end, but I do feel for Lovell for not ever getting a chance to be one of the few men who have been on the lunar surface. That figure would have been two more astronauts higher had the misfortunes that befall Apollo 13 not happened.

It also makes me wonder if there would have been more lunar missions had the US TV networks bothered to keep the public interested by showing the astronauts 'home videos' on TV over there. But I think the fact that Apollo 13 had issues along with the networks not being interested except when the accident befall the mission caused the Apollo lunar missions to come to an end.

Instead of writing more, I suggest you read for yourself and make your own mind up on this topic. This is just my rant here seeing as I can write what I feel like in my own blog and people can choose to read it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lovell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_%28film%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_%28TV_miniseries%29

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Apollo_13/