Apollo 11: T-Plus Fifty Years

It was fifty years ago today (July 16, 1969) that Apollo 11 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The real big anniversary that everyone's waiting for is July 20th, which is the date that the lunar module, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard, landed on the moon. I have to say that this is an anniversary which has really been eagerly awaited by many people and has been covered heavily by mass media--and it actually makes me very happy. I'm glad to see that it really DOES seem to be a big deal to at least a chunk of the U.S. population and is getting the attention I feel it deserves.

It's STILL really kind of hard to comprehend just what was accomplished a half-century ago. While I'm no conspiracy theorist, I can actually understand where some of the rationale for people claiming the moon landing was faked. It was just such an incredible example of technology, smarts and willpower (among many other factors). To think that we were actually able to engineer a project that culminated with men walking on the moon! And it was done so often for a few years after that it almost became routine. Then it just stopped. And suddenly the idea of going to the moon seems like a pipe dream of fantasy now despite all the advances in technology AND the fact that it's already been done!

I think the other amazing thing about the moon landing (and possibly even more fuel for the doubters) is the fact that they were able to pull it off with a mere five months left of 1969. Why? Well because that also means there were only five months left of the 1960s. John F. Kennedy had set a goal in 1961: "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." They couldn't have cut it much closer! I mean, one can only imagine all the factors, delays and setbacks that go into a project as huge as this. Even with tons of money from the government and a fervent desire to fulfill Kennedy's vision it would have been so simple to say "Well, we're pretty danged close, but...just to be safe we're going to set a new date for early in 1970. How does that sound?" It would still have been a monumental accomplishment, but it WOULDN'T have taken place in the 60s--which would have been a huge disappointment in many ways.

It's probably worth mentioning here that I wasn't actually born until after the moon landing. Technically I WAS around, as my mom was pregnant with me when it happened. But I didn't make my first appearance in the world (kind of like Armstrong jumping off the ladder onto the surface of the moon--well, maybe not) until two months later. Because of that fact I don't have first-hand memories or a real personal connection to the lunar landing that folks a few years older than me would have. But it's still certainly something that I can appreciate for what it was and is. It's an important moment in science and history that is still worth celebrating fifty years later and making a big deal out of.

And how is the world celebrating this anniversary? Well, in many ways it seems like it is THE event of 2019. I can't even begin to list all of the ways and places that it is being commemorated (how about the image of Apollo 11 projected onto the Washington Monument in Washington, DC?).

This humble blog post will be lost in a sea of more impressive and important retrospectives, accounts, stories and reflections of what happened in July of 1969. But, while this will probably seem extremely random (and possibly like a joke after all I've already written about how important I feel the anniversary is), I do want to highlight three of my favorite examples I've seen of fun and interesting ways to note the anniversary. They're all commercial product tie-ins and could probably be considered more like attempts to cash in on the excitement surrounding the anniversary than any sort of serious commemorations. But for whatever reason I really liked each of these when I randomly saw them in stores:

MOON PIES

This was probably the first commercial tie-in to the moon landing anniversary that I saw in person. A few months ago I was walking through our local grocery store and I saw a display of Moon Pies. But something about it caught my eye. It was a large display that wasn't in an area where you'd normally find snack cakes like Moon Pies and Hostess or Drake's products. It was in the middle of the floor at the end of an aisle and the large display mentioned the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing. Do Moon Pies have anything to do with NASA or the moon landing? Not that I'm aware. But the simple fact that they have the word "Moon" in their name makes them a perfect product to put the 50th anniversary designation on! Plus there's the nostalgic factor that Moon Pies are an old-timey snack food that was actually around in 1969 (and even much earlier than that)!

I just checked the website for Moon Pies and saw that they are in fact making a bigger deal out of the tie-in than simply putting 50th anniversary displays in grocery stores. Apparently they have actually teamed with NASA to put a lot of interesting information about the Apollo 11 mission on the site.

And now I see in the Wikipedia page for Moon Pies that they apparently ARE connected to the mission in some small way. I guess you really DO learn something new every day!
 

OREOS

Another thing I spotted in the grocery store was a "Limited Edition" variety of Oreo cookies called "Marshmallow Moon" for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. I've written before about both Halloween Oreos and the fact that there seems to be a mind-boggling number of new and different types and varieties of Oreos these days (going well beyond the early attempts to make something new out of Oreos with variants like Vanilla Oreos and "Double Stuf" Oreos). I still see new (and sometimes odd) varieties of Oreos popping up all the time and have been meaning to write a follow up to The Overwhelming Onslaught of Oreos for a few years. So I wasn't too surprised to see yet another new Limited Edition Oreo appear about a month ago. But I WAS surprised to see that it was yet another tie-in to the lunar landing anniversary. I still haven't actually bought or tried any of these "Marshmallow Moon" Oreos myself, but I do approve of this new variety! And, heck, the package even glows in the dark!

BUDWEISER DISCOVERY RESERVE

This one seems to be even more remotely related to the actual moon landing than the first two. But despite not REALLY seeming to have any real connection to the anniversary beyond trying to cash in on it (and apparently using an "archival recipe" from the same time period),  this "Limited Edition" version of Bud comes in those little throwback stubby bottles that I remember grown ups drinking from when I was a kid. And as I've mentioned many times before, if you want me to be interested in a product all you have to do is put it in some retro packaging. 1975 Narragansett Beer cans? I'll buy 'em! Throwback Pepsi and Mountain Dew cans? I'll but 'em! Old-school Doritos packaging? I'll buy it!

So, despite this one seeming to be a reach as far as having a legitimate connection to the moon landing, other than simply being "brewed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing", thanks to the little bottles I'm in!

I'd like to finish up with one more thought on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and another possible reason why it still reverberates with the world. One of the more serious and impressive commemorations has been the coverage that CBS has been giving the anniversary. In addition to stories on CBS News, 60 Minutes and their websites, this morning they actually livestreamed the original TV footage of the launch of Apollo 11, just as it was seen in 1969 (including the commercials!).

Unfortunately I didn't realize this was happening until about fifteen minutes before the 9:32 launch time. I tuned in in time to see Walter Cronkite interviewing Arthur C. Clarke and to watch the launch. It was a pretty cool thing to see, but since my computer is so ancient (not 50 years old, but ancient by modern technology standards) I can't watch more than a minute or two of a livestream without it getting all bogged down and choppy and my laptop overheating. So I had to put it on my iPhone. Suddenly I remembered how they always say that the little smart phones we carry with us every day to post to social media, play video games and navigate our cars actually has more computing power than all the equipment NASA had in 1969 when they sent the first man to the moon. Well, here's the lasting image I hope you take away from this post. It's me watching the 1969 launch of Apollo 11 ("livestreamed" by CBS at the exact moment of the original liftoff) on, yes, my smart phone. How far we've come (for better or worse) in fifty years. What will the next fifty bring?