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News - Apollo 11 Landing: Precautions v Moon Bugs

MOON LANDINGS | Looking back to the Apollo lunar missions

News | Apollo 11 Landing: Precautions v Moon Bugs

Reg Turnill explores NASA's quarantine facilities.

CHANNEL | BBC1

FIRST BROADCAST | 8 May 1969

DURATION | 3 minutes 50 seconds

FIRSTBROADCAST

1969

Synopsis

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.

Did you know?

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'.

Contributors

Reginald Turnill
Reporter
Perser Bell
Contributor

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