Forty years ago, Americans who had access to a television all held their collective breath as Apollo 11, launched from Cape Kennedy carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins. The destination? The Moon, over 218,000 miles away from earth.
This destination had been in the works for nearly a decade, since President Kennedy boldly announced:
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
Ironically, tonight Space Shuttle Endeavor finally launched, after 5 or so delays because of bad weather or equipment issues. As it climbed its way into space, leaving the constraints of earth, gravity and all the thing we know, I was reminded of how fearful and frightening these space ventures still are. While much has changed in 40 years, some things remain the same. The trip is still extremely risky. Escaping earth is death-defying. Returning to earth, even more so. Since those early space pioneers first left earth for the Moon, America has lost 2 missions and entire crews.
The fact that those brave men accomplished their mission and returned to earth is a miracle in itself. I am still in awe of their accomplishments and will never forget the fear we all felt every time there was a rocket launched. In addition to fear, we all felt a tremendous amount of pride in America’s accomplishments.
The space race all took place during the Cold War. America had lost face in 1959. It had not been first. The Russians had beaten us by having the first satellite, Sputnik, orbit the earth. Now, a decade later, as Apollo 11 lifted from Earth, we all waited with baited breath, glued to our televisions. Would they land on the moon, or would they overshoot their target? Would they keep on going, never to be heard from again? Would they be able to land the craft? Would they meet some unexpected horror outside the Eagle? Would they be able to escape the Moon’s gravity? Would they be able to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere?
Notice the faces of the the onlookers. The expressions show the fear, the pride, the uncertainty of the mission. Did those faces we see in the video from 40 years ago look the same as those who watched the Endeavor launch last night?
This Apollo thread is dedicated to all of us who remember that day:
Second Alamo, Censored, Marie, Ivan
Leave me a note if I left you out because I thought you were too young 😉
Adding the following youngsters: Gainesville Resident
Ah, remember it well. The early space program was akin to the days of the early pioneers. America had a collective common interest that crossed all nationalities. It seemed to be the one thing that everyone supported. Thanks for the video!
What an amazing day that must have been 40 years ago. Of course I don’t remember, I was only 6 months old. However, luckily my dad was one save the newspaper when such memorable events happened. I do have the Washington Post from the day, and it’s in mint condition. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to been a part of witnessing such an event. I did have the pleasure of meeting Buzz Aldrin, and I felt so lucky to be meeting a true modern day pioneer.
Here are some links I found. They are realy cool.
This first link has multiple views available of the launch pad.
http://wechoosethemoon.org/
Then the best one I found, of course, is from NASA. You can hear actual audio from the day forty years ago.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html
Also, if anyone is ever in the Houston area, take the time to visit the Johnson Space Center. It has so many hands exhibits, such as flight simulators, docking arms, etc.
What a great thread MH! I remember it very well, I stayed up late that night and I’m dating myself but I was only 11 years old at the time, to see the moonwalk on TV. I’m a big space/astronomy fan, and always followed all the space missions – the Gemini and Apollo missions, as well as Space Shuttle. I’m a bit too young to have followed the Mercury ones.
Lafayette – I almost went to Houston two months ago. I was down in Killeen, TX for work – and saw Houston was about 225 miles. I was sorely tempted to do that one weekend, as a REALLY wanted to get there as I’ve never been. Unfortunately, I just didn’t feel up to it and chose to go one day on that weekend (I was there for 12 days) – to Sea World in San Antonio instead, as well as see the rest of San Antonio.
Thanks for those links though – they are really great. And thanks for posting this thread MH – as you know this is the kind of stuff I really enjoy talking about, reading about, etc.
That’s truly great you got to meet Buzz Aldrin, Lafayette. I envy you. He is a real interesting guy – especially how he worked through his life post Apollo 11. As you say, he is a modern day pioneer. He had a lot of personal difficulties post Apollo 11 – and I can understand what he went through – it was sort of along the lines of – now that you’ve accomplished such a great thing in life – where do you go from here? It took him a long time to sort that out, but seems like he’s doing great these days. I’d be very happy to personally meet him, or any other astronaut for that matter.
I actually am in the early planning stages of a vacation this fall with my parents, who are going down to Florida. I’ve been to Cape Kennedy many times, and actually witnessed the launch of the Casini satellite from there – but I can always go there again and take the tour of the launchpads.
Oddly enough, my parents in 1969 took a vacation to Florida in June of that year .We took the tour of Cape Kennedy, and saw Apollo 11 sitting on the launchpad! I only wish they had timed it better to see the actual launch however! Somewhere they have home movies I shot of that – and you can clearly see it on the launchpad in the distance.
I could write a lot more (as you know) but I’m at work and have to get doing some real work… Hope for some more interesting discussion, etc. I might have some HTML links to share of interesting websites – but will have to dig them up – or they really are at home so may have to wait until tonight.
I remember it well. It should be noted that this event replaced the Viet Nam War at the top of the “news cycle” for a period of time. It gave everyone a sense of pride and national accomplishment for an all too brief period of time.
Ivan, thanks for that interesting point. The “news cycle” can old real fast at anytime, but certainly during the Viet Nam War. Again, I can only imagine what it was like during that time. I’m all for a sense of pride and national accomplishment. I think we could use a “boost” like that these days. Again, thanks for your perspective.
This was almost a decade before my time but I can only imagine how awesome the experience must have been. It’s hard to believe that we went to the moon all those years ago and haven’t been back (or beyond) since. Just think of the advances in computers, aviation, rockets and science in the past 40 years, why haven’t we taken advantages of them and gone back or even further? Nothing for ‘man’ to do now that we have rovers and robots to do it for us or has it just lost it’s luster?
That’s very good Ivan. I forgot that but you are right – for awhile it was a very welcome diversion back then from the highly depressing news about Vietnam that was on the front page of ever newspaper during that time.
hello – you are right about all the innovations. It is sad what our space program has become today – indeed as you say it has lost a lot of its luster. I understand those who say it is better left to robots and rovers, but that just doesn’t have the excitement of manned space travel.
We owe a lot to space exploration – a lot of every day stuff we use in our lives is due to advances made in the process of preparing for manned space exploration. Many things you would not believe, are all the result of that.
It is indeed hard to believe we have not sent men beyond earth’s orbit in nearly 40 years now!!! Just tragic, if you ask me.
Hello, NASA has been in and out of favor over the years. There have also been 2 horrible, horrific in-space accidents. The Challenger was being watched by millions when it exploded into nothingness. The Columbia simply disappeared off the radar in 2003 as it was reentering the earth’s atmosphere.
Those types of accidents aren’t the good will ambassadors of the space program. Our astronauts don’t hold the same sort of mystic and hero-ike status as those early guys.
Also, the direction of the program has turned more towards payload than basic exploration.
Lafayette, thanks for the links. Neat. GR, I added you to the list of youngsters.
Ivan you are right. It was a wonderful news diversion. We were all so proud of the accomplishments of our country. Recall, this was in the middle of Vietnam. Quite an accomplishment.
On the other hand, do we need to be on the moon? I don’t know.
Something to think about: in those days, much of what was done to launch Apollo 11 was done via computer. The computers were huge and took up rooms and buildings. There was no such thing as a PC. GR, what were those old computers called?
Anyway, here is a link. Far above my paygrade….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
and
http://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/computer.htm
Kennedy speech to head to the moon at Rice University. Interesting, he said weapons of mass destruction in that speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYb_mhiE-qU
He wanted us to be the world’s leading space-faring nation. He said that nuclear science and space science had no conscience of its own, it was up to man.
It is a fabulous speech. I had never listened carefully before.
If you go to the first link lafayette posted, there are a lot of pictures of the Apollo 11 space mission. One of the pictures is of the Houston bullpen where literally hundreds sat and orchestrated the space flight. If you look carefully at the picture, you will see one thing that dominates the entire landscape.
Every single person in the room of literally hundreds, is male. 40 years ago. EVERY SINGLE PERSON WAS MALE.
To Michael-I cannot say this loudly enough. 40 years is a very short period of time. Do you expect us to get over it in a day? a month? a year? College educated women in math, science, and engineering existed. Where were they? Not at NASA, not in Houston, it appears.
Houston, you have a big freaking problem.
You are exactly right how NASA has been in and out of favor both with the American people as a whole and with the politicians who dole out funding to them. It is tragic in a way, although NASA has done an excellent job of shooting itself in the foot at times.
Right now, I think it is a BAD BAD idea that the space shuttle is being retired and there will be a HUGE GAP before we as a nation have any manned spaceflight capability. That gap should not exist, and I think is a complete embarrassment. Call it poor planning, poor funding, or whatever. Yes, the shuttle fleet is aging, but it might be able to fly until 2012. IF they had made some other decisions properly – there might have been a replacement system available by 2012, therefore no gap.
Now, we’ll have possibly as much as a 5 year gap between manned spaceflight from the USA. That’s just terrible. Other nations are catching up with us, which is all well and fine, IF we want to lose one more thing where the USA was once ahead of other nations.
Our robotic space exploration is great, but it doesn’t interest people in the way manned spaceflight does. Yes, there are inherent risks, but the astronauts who go up – the great majority accept those risks. And yes, it is more expensive – but that comes to how we want to prioitize our spending. I know these times are tight – so maybe now is a bad time to address these issues. In any event, NASA has an interesting history of as MH said, falling in and out of favor. I’ve read some interesting books on it and could probably recommend some interesting reading, but would hve to dig out the titles.
It sounds like the Endeavor might have some structural damage. The risk will always be there, it seems. Stay tuned on that one.
Those old guys who were the pioneers in this field were heroes but were pretty much owned by NASA. I don’t think those old guys like Chuck Yeager had any fears. They lived for the thrill, or at least that is what we mere mortals thought.
I always admired their bravery because I would have been chicken.
Want a good feel good movie that is all about the space program, set in the coal fields of West Virginia? Try October Sky. Fabulous film. Not too technical at all.
Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnX6yU8PJHE
Are you suggesting that we deport illegal immigrants to the moon?
It might not be a bad idea. It would at least provide some disincentive to them. I would tentatively support such a program.
“But we can’t send them all to the moon”. No but send a few and the rest will clear out.
I hadn’t heard the latest on Endeavor. This has been an ongoing problem with the foam coming off and hitting the shuttle on liftoff. Hopefully the damage will not be in a problem area. If it is, they have some options – repairing is one option. Other options are more severe. We’ll see what happens – I’m going to have to find out the latest on it from NASA’s website – that’s the best source usually. I find CNN and others often get technical/space news wrong, or they like to exaggerate – so I don’t trust them on this subject.
Rick – you are too funny! But no, that would cost too much taxpayer money. So I think you are missing the cost aspect. Otherwise, I might be with you as to that being a possible solution! “We can send men to the moon but we can’t figure out how to solve the illegal immigration problem”!!
October Sky is a great film!! The book is a good read too. I’ve watched that movie a few times and enjoy it every time. Very interesting story, and I definitely recommend it. It’s also just a very enjoyable film to watch, in my opinion. As MH said, it is not at all technical – really a good drama about someone trying to escape from a possible life as a West Virgnia coal miner, sort of against his father’s wishes. Highly recommended. Glad MH brought up that film.
It would pay for itself, GR.
There was something very funny in one of SENATOR Franken’s books, back when he was funny, about sending old people to the moon. In a later chapter Franken’s lead researcher accuses him of being motivated in this regard, and in other concerns such as fighting for increases in Social Security payments, as being “deathly afraid that his parents may need to come live with him”.
Very good Rick. I see, you’re saying the decreased burden here on earth in the good ole USA would pay for the costs of sending them to the moon! Interesting proposal, I must say! I like it in a way, it would encourage lunar stations, help the manufacturing industry build all that stuff and all the spacecrafts needed (I gather you envision it being a one way trip) so would be a great boom for the economy! Very interesting!
On a more serious note: here’s some newly released remastered high def videos of Apollo 11:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11.html
Hey MH – I just noticed your addition of me as a “youngster” in your lead-in to this thread! Very funny! Hey, you know I just turned the big “50” back in March! If that’s your definition of a youngster – it’s fine with me! Does that mean I don’t turn middle age until I’m 75??? That’s also very fine with me (and I’m sure with a lot of folks here on the blog).
Then again, I just attended a few years ago my 25th college reunion. They had an interesting list of things we know about that the kids in college today wouldn’t (old fashioned phonograph records, for engineering students like me the infamous “IBM punched cards”, etc. – I can’t remember the rest of the list but it was really funny and interesting).
Now, to me a youngster is someone who wasn’t around for the Apollo stuff, or even maybe the first shuttle launch which was right after I graduated from college.
But, I’ll go with your definition of youngster any day! Also, I was wrong when I said above I was 11 years old at the time, I was only 10! I tried to age myself a year – why did I do that???
GR, obviously this youngster stuff has just gone to your head. 😉
Indeed it has MH!
The Endeavor might run into some difficulty. Foam and tiles were lost during lift off.
Yeah, we could impose fines on firms who hire illegal aliens – the Verizon subcontractors of the world – and use them to launch more space stations, and or rockets to the moon, filled with undocumented persons.
I cam imagine the Post sob stories now – “Local Workers Sent To Moon Againt Wishes, Obama Administration Expresses Concern With Space Program Initiative”.
They can use the space flight time to bone up on English. And we can pay them a good hourly rate if they can learn to maintain and repair satellites, service telescopes, and maybe clean up space debris. This could be a win-win.
I have a vision of the people currently living in flophouses around here living in moon communities, far away from Manassas … I can imagine taco trucks on the moon … a vibrant culture of Spanish, drivers liscences and moon buggies for everyone … I can imagine a moon full of young Spanish-speaking men sitting on stoops talking on cell phones, and honking their moon bugies early in the morning, exorting their compatriots to get out of bed and come build a new space station … free health care courtesy of NASA … and Dish Latino for everyone, with very clear reception up there! Let’s do this – a few flyers circulated in Mexico should get the ball rolling. Forget migrating to America, the moon is the next big thing!
And let’s send Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, et al over there with them – these guys will need some of our experienced politicians to ensure that things run smoothly up there.
This is the one condition under which I would agree with an Amnesty deal. If the illegal persons have to reapply for admission not from their home country, but from the moon.
Moon is so ’60s. Buzz Aldrin thinks that we ought to set our sights on Mars–not just a trip but stake out a homestead. See yesterday’s Washington Post.
I agree with Buzz Aldrin on that. Good point. I remember him saying that a few weeks ago. We have already been to the moon. A manned mission to Mars would be so much more exciting. We know a lot about the moon, not as much to Mars. It would also develop technologies for long space mission. And, I’m sure the psyhologist could have a fastening time studying the consequences of having people living together in the confined space for the long trip involved. You’d have to develop technologies to sustain the crew for that time with food, etc. Some of that is already in place. But, I think there would be great payoffs, and it would get people more excited than “just another trip to the moon”. We did that already. This “Apollo on Steroids” concept they are developing, that’s nice – but how about not aiming for the moon. To think we have to redo what we did 40 years ago, just to prove something, seems a little silly. I can get excited about that, but I’d be much more excited about seeing an expedition to Mars.
Buzz Aldrin is right about this – for certain. And put a Mars base up too, not just visit there.
And here I was thinking of the spacecraft being used just one way, and landing on the moon and being used as a habitat! Now you made me have to rethink the whole plan, Rick!
This has been a running problem with the shuttle in its current design. Unfortunatley, we can only hope that 1) the tiles are not in any critical areas or 2) that they can be repaired by the crew if they are.
There are other alternatives, the worst case scenario is the crew moves to the space station and awaits rescue – and the space shuttle is left in orbit and never brought back to Earth. Not a very good option, but it is better than no option at all.
Will be interesting to see what develops. They have practiced some tile repair. Also, they now are very careful about inspecting the shuttle in orbit and making sure it is safe to return to Earth. They won’t take any unnecessary risks, if the tiles are in a bad place and cannot be repaired.
Some tiles aren’t as critical as others, some are extremely critical, as was demonstrated a few years ago when the shuttle burned up on re-entry.
I’ll be following the news, and hope for the best case scenario (the tiles involved are not in critical areas and don’t need to be repaired).
Rick, are you going to help develop tacos that work well in 1/6 gravity? I can imagine they might get a little messy.
Ted Kennedy, while I dislike him, is old and very ill. But I’m with you on the rest of the politicians, and I have a few personal favorites I’d add to the list, but I’ll just leave that to everyone’s imagination. Just think – a moonbase full of politicians (like a retirement home for discredited and disgraced politicians). I like it!
You know what – since no atmosphere, they can honk their horns all they want on the moon – we won’t hear them! Then again, maybe you are thinking a dome filled with oxygen, and the trucks inside the dome. Oh well, then we still have the horn honking problem in the wee hours of the night.
I am going to ask both of you to speak more respectfully about the Moon … ahem….Moon here…at least Moon-howler. 😉
“Just think – a moonbase full of politicians (like a retirement home for discredited and disgraced politicians). I like it!”
Yeah. As is the case with 60% of my jokes and concepts they’te stolen from elsewhere – it’s either “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” or “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe” where something similar happens. I hesitate to describe it as I won’t do it justice. But if you don’t midn a spolier here’s the joke.
The protagnost is on a spaceship with an ineffectual group of dimwits. he wonders how and why they made it onto a spaceship. Eventually he pieces together that as space dwindled on Earth, the humans took the least desirable half of the planet – to include politicians, I’m sure – told them teh Earth was under imminant attack, rushed them onto spaceships, and sent them away forthwith.
I am not being so judgemental as to suggest that the illegal aliens are our less desirable half, I don’t feel that way, but I do feel that way about our political ruling class. I would support any top secret CIA plan to get them all onto a spaceship and blast it off.
Man I haven’t thought about Douglas Adams in a long time but some of his books are really great.
In the third Hitchhiker’s book they travel to the planet at the end of the Universe which contains God’s final message to his creations. Spoiler alert in following paragraph. The message is :
“Sorry for the inconvenience”.
There’s a similar joke in a Woody Allen movie. “How can anyone believe in God in this day and age? If there were a God people would rise up against him with a massive class action lawsuit”.
Moon-howler, yes, I remember all the buzz about Apollo 11 – though so much other stuff was going on in 1969. I remember the student demonstrations, building take-overs, my spouse (then boyfriend) being in Vietnam. In general it was an exciting time and space travel echoed that excitement. Ha ha – how many of us went to the Uptown -stoned- to watch “2001: A Space Odyssey”?
The Challenger accident sticks in my mind as well as I received an urgent call from a friend on a news crew who needed a babysitter as he waited for his wife to return from work so that he could rush off to cover the incident. I suppose it was a reminder to us all that these experiments were not without risk and may have fueled a cutback in funding.
My late father-in-law was an instructor at Maxwell Air Force Base in the 60s when many of the astronauts were there for some training. He had saved many papers related to their activities as well as their autographs – most auctioned off several years ago.
As a kiddo I remember Laika the dog and the chimps. Actually, I would have expected much more to have happened in space exploration by now.
“Ha ha – how many of us went to the Uptown -stoned- to watch “2001: A Space Odyssey”? ”
I know that was a popular thing to do. I study film, and my opinion of 2001 is that it is a successful attempt to create a “psychedelic” experience, in keeping with the vibe of the times. IMO seeing the film on a big screen with sound pumping is already fairly psychedelic, you probably would get much the same effect without foreign substances. I regard it as the foremost translation of “psychedelia” to screen.
And that said, it doesn’t translate at all to a television screen. Probably akin to looking at someone’s notes of an acid trip.
No one else ever made a film thgat disjointed and non-linear and MEANINGLESS from a rational perspective, that affected and impressed people that much.
Sorry MH – didn’t mean to disrespect the Moon!!!! That’s too funny!
You know what, up until the ending of 2001, I think it’s a great flick! I saw it on the big screen when it came out – dragged my parents and made them take me! They hated it, I have it on DVD and really like it up until the end. The book explains the ending a bit better. And of course the follow-up – 2010, explains a little bit what went on at the end, evne though 2010 is nowhere near the movie that 2001 is. The book 2010 is good, as is the book 2031 (a follow-up never made into a movie). On the other hand, Arthur Clarke’s book 3001 is terrible!
Anyway, the first 2/3 of the movie in my opinion were a masterpiece for its time. Sadly, that last part was indeed awful.
Ah, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – that’s where you get your source material from? I’ve read bits of it and seen the BBC series and the movie, but I’m kind of on the fence about that. It has its good moments and some witty stuff, but some of it bores me. Well, to each his own!
My favorite part of Hitchiker’s was, if i remember this right – had a planet with an elite upper class, who decided to send the lower class into space. The lower class – part of what they did was keep the telephones clean of germs. Well, when they banished the lower class to space, the upper class all died of some disease caused by dirty telephones! Maybe I’m getting it wrong, but that’s what my memory tells me, from the BBC series. Again, I’m not a big fan of Hitchhiker’s and its been awhile since I’ve seen it or read snippets from the books (never could really get into the books). Thought though that is an interesting take on things, since Rick has his plan of sending people to the moon!
And, far be it for me to disrespect the Moon, MH! After all, I’m an astronomer and I enjoy looking at it through my telescope. Wouldn’t want to lose the privilidge of doing so, that’s for sure! “All hail the Moon, don’t disrespect it”!!
Censored – that’s a good statement you made – one would think we’d be a lot further along in space exploration, given where we were at in the 60’s. Look where Arthur C. Clarke thought we’d be in 2001! Obviously even 8 years later, we are nowhere near there and have decades if not more to go to get to the place we were predicted by him to be in 2001! After all, he predicted satellites, and many other things, but he sure was way off in predicting where space exploration might be in 2001. Also the movie is full of funny anachronisms – such as Bell Labs video phones, and so on. Then again, artificial intelligence isn’t where it was predicted to be either. Although, he did get right sort of laptop computers and some other things that were shown in the movie. It is interseting and a bit funny now – but the special effects in the first 2/3 of the movie hold up well. I hated the last part of the movie though, the book is somewhat better in explaning that part. Maybe you had to be on drugs (as some people were) to enjoy the last part of the movie!
Of course to add to the list of funny things in the movie, you have Pan Am running the spaceship shown at the beginning of the movie. I know once upon a time Pan Am was a big airline (in the 60’s) but of course it went out of business years ago!
GR, I haven’t read the book – might have to do so for a better explanation of the ending. It’s probablt been twenty years since I’ve seen the film – saw it once on VHS.
Rick, I agree about the difference in seeing a film in the theatre or at home on a tv. The ones I remember are the ones I’ve seen on the big screen – even the stinkers.
t=y above (or HAL=IBM)lol
Here’s my exoplanation of the ending, and the whole plot.
Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke collaborated, in an attempot to write something in the zeitgeist of the times – to make a movie as unusual and different as the one that came out. It is mysterious and the backstory to many things is deliberately not in the movie. Clarke wrote a book, but it was a secondary product – the movie’s screenplay is the real artifact here. It is not especially meaningful except in style, images, “spirit of the times”. That said, I think it is a great film and one of the great art products of its time.
Clark’s book and sequels are fine and dandy but it’s the enigmatic nature of it that gives the movie its dreamlike quality and sense of foreboding in the first place.
BTW if I were a Hollywood player I would option the story for Clarke’s “Childhood’s End” – THAT’S a great book.
Kubrick was on a real roll during the 60’s and into 1971 – four really great, different movies that are each tremendous in their way – “Lolita”, “DR. Strangelove”, “2001 A Space Odyssey”, and “A Clockwork Orange”.
Indeed, Kubrick is interesting that he made movies in really very different genres, and all were successful. I have only seen Dr. Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange out of those Rick lists above (besides 2001 obviously), but they were all good movies and very different.
You are right, Childhood’s End by Clarke is indeed a great book. I haven’t read it in a long time, but I thought it was really good. I should read it again sometime, now that i think of it.
HAL = IBM – I think that’s really a myth that Clarke took the letters IBM and subtracted one from each letter. But who knows the truth behind that! Supposedly HAL stands for something – I forget what exactly – I used to remember this but I’m drawing a mental block at the moment. That sequence of deactivating HAL is kind of a classic though, both in the movie and in the book!
By the way, and i can’t keep this straight in my mind, but the movie I believe takes place near Jupiter. The book on the other hand takes place around Saturn. They had some reason for moving it to Jupiter – but I forget what it was. In subsequent books Clarke followed the movie and shifted the action to Jupiter and its moons – especially Europa which figured prominently later on in the series. It makes the books a little confusing if they are read in sequence however, without seeing the movie!
Breaking news – Walter Cronkite just died at age 92. In my mind, I remember him as the news anchor I tuned to for all space news, and I used to watch every Gemini and Apollo mission and he was always on to explain everything. So I thought it odd timing of his death, as I even remember some interview between him and Arthur C. Clarke while they were waiting for the Apollo 11 moonwalk to occur! Of course Arthur C. Clarke died recently too, now that i think of it – about a year ago if I remember correctly. Very odd timing though of Cronkite’s death, but he lived a long and I think happy life.