When I was a child, I remember going to the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa with my family one summer. One of the exhibits was a space module used in NASA’s space program. I can’t remember if this particular module was used to land on the moon, or if it was just an example of the ones used, but I remember standing and looking at the smooth surface of the metal and the tiny window and wondering how this oddly shaped object took people to the moon. As a child, I really had no concept of how long it took to get to the moon or how difficult it had been for humans to get there. But I knew that this was an important piece of our history as people. Someone had actually been up to that large, white circle in the night sky.
I recently saw a wonderful documentary by Discovery Films called “In the Shadow of the Moon”, and was completely enthralled by the gorgeous digitally enhanced films from the first lunar landings. This is a film presented by Ron Howard, who also brought the world the amazing film “Apollo 13″ and produced the miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”, and he brings his immense love of the space program to this documentary as well.
The video in this movie is amazing….things you’ve probably never seen before, and the interviews with the remaining astronauts who were involved with the Apollo missions are wonderful and charming. I wanted to know more!
I have always been interested in space, and although I wasn’t even alive when the first moon landing took place, ask anyone who was and they’ll be able to tell you where they were when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took those first steps. The feeling from this film was a world coming together to experience something bigger than ourselves, something that was amazing and positive and life-affirming. We can’t really say that about any event since in the history of the world. The only things that have brought us all together as people, and not as separate races or countries or species, have been things of destruction—-terrorism, natural disasters and genocide. What have we done lately as a planet that is so positive? If you have any ideas, let me know.
You can actually rent this movie, of course, but I see that it is also available for the most part if you go to YouTube and type in the title. However, if you’d like a little more information, we have some great books in the library aimed at kids or adults.
How about:
Space Pioneers : Astronauts, by Richard Spilsbury, where you can learn interesting facts about the astronauts themselves. In fact, did you know that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong actually came to Canada before their space mission and practiced walking around the edges of the mines in Sudbury, Ontario in order to simulate walking on the craters of the moon?
And DK Online Space Travel by Ian Graham has some great links for kids to research the space programs and other space related links online.
If you are looking for something in the adult section:
America in Space : NASA’s First Fifty Years by Steven J. Dick is also a great resource.
There are some fun links online that might provide more information as well.
