40th anniversary of Apollo - bad mistake.

[Nick]

Of all places, the time line scenario here:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/apollo11/timeline/

shows the WRONG crew for Apollo 17 launch (Dec 1972). I have mailed both the web team and Smithsonian info people with the error, but both mails seem to have been ignored (like 6 days now).

Phil If you read here, please try to add your clout and get this corrected.

Nick

[Valkyrie801]

I was 11 years old and watched it happen...

The thing is I remember a year earlier when Apollo 8 orbited the moon around Christmas time,

and the commander recited the bible, and for several hours on CBS TV in New York they showed nothing but the surface of the moon as that command/service module orbited over it.

I feel asleep watching it.

It made an impression upon me.

[LaurelHS]

I'm surprised to see this error. I e-mailed them too.

[Nick]

Well, it still hasn't been changed, so I posted on the site in the 'share your story' page - hopefully somebody checks that regularly.

Nick

[trodas]

NASA is doing such errors on regular basic. Last time I checked, the journalist Karel Pacner is talking how he was present during the Apollo 11 launch:
http://technet.idnes.cz/tec_vesmir.a...tec_vesmir_mbo

And NASA claimed 7 journalist from Czechoslovakia, while there are only 5 of them.
Also, they misspelled the Chechoslovakia to Czechoslavakia.
And they put wrong the name of the magazine he represented - it was not "Milada Fronta", but Mlada Fronta. (I won't expect they go to the proper name "Mladá Fronta" at all, but at least not Milada, pls... )

[matthewota]

Well, now they got the crew right, but mistakenly use the radio call sign names "Orion" and "Casper" from Apollo 16....

[trodas]

Not to worry I'm sure they amuse us with some other error any time soon. The BAS Buzz Aldrin is spreading is itself very interesting

There are ETs, you know. Meaning - we was in deep space Yea, sure.

[eccles64]

I was 11 years old and watched it happen...

The thing is I remember a year earlier when Apollo 8 orbited the moon around Christmas time,

and the commander recited the bible, and for several hours on CBS TV in New York they showed nothing but the surface of the moon as that command/service module orbited over it.

I feel asleep watching it.

It made an impression upon me.

I was at Cape Canaveral 10 day before the launch of Apollo 8 and drove across to LA where I watched the launch on TV. I was on the move all the time so could not watch the rest of the mission.

Why did Frank Borman read from a book of fiction - the Bible. I think he read the first few chapters of Genesis which is so anti science and contrary to everthing that is known and proved about the origin of the Earth. Why did he waste that airtime instead of continuing describing the Moon. All members of the Apoll 8 crew were involved. Here is the transcript:

William Anders
"We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Jim Lovell
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Frank Borman
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."


I read that Madalyn Murray O'Hair, an atheist, responded by suing the United States government, alleging violations of the First Amendment. The suit was dismissed by the Supreme Court due to lack of jurisdiction. Later on the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin received communion on the lunar surface shortly after landing. He kept his actions secret for many years. I just read about that in Buzz Aldren's book "Magnificent Desolation". He wanted to do that publically whilve VOX comms were on. He discusssed it with Deke Slayton who reminded him of the court action by Madalyn Murray O'Hair and did not want NASA involved in any more legal actions over that.

For those who don't know who Madalyn Murray O'Hair was here is her blub:

Madalyn Murray O'Hair (April 13, 1919 – September 29, 1995) was an American atheist. She was the founder of American Atheists and, either openly or behind the scenes, was its president from 1963 to 1995.

She is best known for the lawsuit, Murray v. Curlett, which led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling and ended the practice of daily prayer in American public schools. O'Hair later founded American Atheists and became so controversial that, in 1964, Life magazine referred to her as "the most hated woman in America."

She was murdered in 1995, along with her son and granddaughter.

[antoniseb]

...Why did Frank Borman read from a book of fiction - the Bible. ...

We have a rule against discussing religion here. Please review the rules before posting again. This is a forum for discussing astronomy and spaceflight. Opening the door to religious arguments leads to endless heated exchanges of little use to advancing anyone's understanding.

[publiusr]

In terms of books with errors, I saw a few in this book by Piers Bizony, as reviewed below
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072401423.html

In one chapter he describes a solar sail as using the solar wind (photons actually). The fluorine is actually a worse oxidizer than oxygen. Nedelin was not a launch director, and kerosene can burn with hydrogen peroxide, resulting in storable non-hypergolic, non-cryogenic propellants like the Beal rockets were to have used. Other than the minor quibbles, it is a good book for young people.

[DippyHippy]

Speaking of works of fiction, I'm still staggered that millions of people still believe NASA faked the Moon landings. I mean, I can understand why you'd want to fake Apollo 11 - first on the moon, beating those pesky Russkies, that kind of thing - but why fake 5 others and fake botching a sixth? Duhhhhhh