{"id":18430,"date":"2018-07-20T18:47:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T10:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/t-minus-1-year-the-moon-is-on-the-rise-as-apollo-11s-50th-anniversary-approaches\/"},"modified":"2018-07-20T18:47:57","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T10:47:57","slug":"t-minus-1-year-the-moon-is-on-the-rise-as-apollo-11s-50th-anniversary-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/t-minus-1-year-the-moon-is-on-the-rise-as-apollo-11s-50th-anniversary-approaches\/","title":{"rendered":"T-minus-1 year: The moon is on the rise as Apollo 11\u2019s 50th anniversary approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_435262\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-435262\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-435262\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180720-apollo11-630x557.jpg\" alt=\"Apollo 11 flag salute\" width=\"630\" height=\"557\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180720-apollo11-630x557.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180720-apollo11-768x679.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180720-apollo11.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-435262\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes the U.S. flag during 1969\u2019s Apollo 11 mission to the moon. (NASA Photo \/ Neil Armstrong)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Forty-nine years ago today, humans first set foot on a world beyond Earth&nbsp;\u2014 and by the time the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing rolls around, a year from now, there\u2019s likely to be more moon milestones to celebrate.<\/p>\n<p>Today NASA\u2019s myriad Twitter accounts are buzzing with #NationalMoonDay shout-outs, and the space agency\u2019s website is filled with links to Apollo 11 lore.<\/p>\n<p>You can bet next year\u2019s #Apollo50 observances will take on a far higher profile. Even Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight is getting in on the action: Apollo 11 artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian, including the Columbia command module, will be on display starting next April and running through the 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n<p>But the year ahead isn\u2019t just about past glories: We\u2019re due to see a ramping-up of missions to the moon, in part because of the Trump administration\u2019s initiative aimed at lunar exploration and settlement.<\/p>\n<p>This week, NASA released a list of more than two dozen companies that are interested in a NASA program aimed at supporting the delivery of commercial payloads to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n<p>The list includes the heavy-hitters of the commercial space effort (Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman \/ Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada Corp., SpaceX and United Launch Alliance) as well as scrappier veterans of past XPRIZE competitions (Astrobotic, Masten Space Systems, Moon Express, PTScientists, TeamIndus).<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s even a Seattle company that\u2019s voiced interest in the moon race: Spaceflight Industries, which has struck deals for launch logistics with several of the aforementioned ventures.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"160 Beats Per Minute: The Final, Frantic Moments Before The Historic Moon Landing | Mach | NBC News\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zplHIWNfR7Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Yet another Google Lunar X Prize veteran, Israel\u2019s SpaceIL, says it\u2019s gearing up to launch a lander to the moon by the end of the year on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Details about the mission have been scant, but sources say privately that preparations are proceeding apace.<\/p>\n<p>China, meanwhile, is gearing up for two robotic lunar landing missions: Chang\u2019e-4 is scheduled for launch later this year, with the goal of making the first-ever soft landing on the moon\u2019s far side. Chang\u2019e-5, currently due for launch in 2019, aims to bring about four pounds of rocks and soil from the moon\u2019s polar back to Earth for study.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Exclusive:<\/strong>: Apollo 11\u2019s Buzz Aldrin shares his moon vision<\/h4>\n<p>India is also planning to send an orbiter, lander and six-wheeled rover to the moon by the end of this year. It\u2019s all part of India\u2019s Chandrayaan-2 mission, which follows up on the successful Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter mission of 2008-2009.<\/p>\n<p>Such moon missions are a more meaningful tribute to Apollo\u2019s legacy than museum artifacts. But if it\u2019s space history you\u2019re looking for, there\u2019s more of that to look forward to in the months ahead as well.<\/p>\n<p>A big-budget movie based on the definitive biography of Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, \u201cFirst Man,\u201d is due for release in October. (It\u2019ll have its first showing next month at the Venice Film Festival.) And an upcoming documentary titled \u201cApollo 11\u201d takes advantage of film footage that shows the actual events from 49 years ago in high resolution.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"APOLLO 11 - Official Teaser\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BNKM8YpTmVw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"First Man - Official Trailer (HD)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PSoRx87OO6k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can even own a piece of history:&nbsp;Heritage Auctions is getting ready to start selling more than 2,000 items from the Armstrong family estate. \u201cThere will be items that make you think, items that make you laugh, and items that make you scratch your head,\u201d one of the late astronaut\u2019s sons, Mark Armstrong, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>For more about that sale, and all things having to do with Apollo 11 and space history, check out Robert Z. Pearlman\u2019s coverage on CollectSpace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes the U.S. flag during 1969\u2019s Apollo 11 mission to the moon. (NASA Photo \/ Neil Armstrong) Forty-nine years ago today, humans first set foot on a world beyond Earth&nbsp;\u2014 and by the time the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing rolls around, a year from now, there\u2019s likely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1651,1758,4029],"class_list":["post-18430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-apollo","tag-apollo-11","tag-space-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}