Cons

I have already posted multiple times about Moon, the new hard sci-fi movie by Duncan Jones, but this time we are talking the actual orbital object over our heads. I have also recently posted about the LROC and Kaguya lunar missions, and the excellent images they returned to Earth. A team on the surface of this world has created a Lunar picture just as impressive; the Lunar World Record image, now acknowledged by Guinness. The project was put together as part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 celebration, honoring and hosted by Sir Patric Moore. If you don’t know who he is, he mapped the Moon in the 50’s, creating the information used by both the Russian and American space program into the 60s and beyond. He also got his own Guinness Certificate for being the longest running television presenter of the BBC Sky at Night program, from 1957 until last year. IYA2009 also has The Moon for All Mankind going on, with Malta being the latest entry. And then the one that may end up being my favorite; you can relive the first manned Moon landing in real time, in every detail, including some that were not broadcast when it first happened! We Choose The Moon will take you through the entire event, but just like the first time it happened you only get one shot at experiencing it. The Retro-Launch takes off in 51 hours as I am writing this, and will unspool sequentially exactly as the original did until splashdown. I recommend using modern reminders like Twitter to make sure you don’t miss it. Discover Magazine also has a nice retrospective of the landing event freshly posted to honor the anniversary. I threw in the peek at the 1930’s version of the John Carter movie that almost was because I couldn’t resist, not because it fit with the rest of this post…