MOON LANDINGS | Looking back to the Apollo lunar missions
CHANNEL | BBC1
FIRST BROADCAST | 8 May 1969
DURATION | 3 minutes 50 seconds
FIRSTBROADCAST
1969
When the Apollo 11 astronauts return to Earth, they will enter quarantine for almost a month. Though most scientists believe there's little chance that 'space bugs' exist, every safeguard is being taken, just in case. Dr Perser Bell, the manager of the quarantine facility, explains to Reg Turnill (pictured above) how the astronauts will live during their time in isolation and describes some of the tests they'll undergo.
The oft-quoted speech made by Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the moon's surface has dogged him ever since. Though everyone at home heard him say a tautological 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind', Armstrong himself has always insisted that he actually said 'one small step for a man', which is more grammatical. In 2006, computer programmer Peter Shann Ford claimed to have isolated the speech and identified a trace of the word 'a' that had been obscured by transmission static. Armstrong issued a statement to the effect that he found Ford's analysis 'persuasive'. However, subsequent research released in June 2009 supported the original interpretation - 'one small step for man'.
An astronomer states the case for putting telescopes on the moon.
Reg Turnill explores NASA's quarantine facilities.
What will the Apollo astronauts actually be doing on the moon?