It's 50 years ago Saturday, July 20, that man first landed on the Moon.

And all week people from around the world will be celebrating the feat.

James Durbano with the Big Sky Observatory says it's a singular moment in human history.

"I think that's mankind's, human kind's greatest achievement ever! Or at least to date. It'll be topped when we eventually land on Mars. I think was humanity's greatest achievement so far and it's the 50th Anniversary and I think it's time we go back! (to the moon.)"

Durbano says he's it's still pretty impressive with the fact man made it to the Moon and back with 1960's technology.

"It certainly is. Anybody's smartphone has way more computing power than what was on board those spacecraft. And so it is quite impressive they were able to pull it off. But they didn't just do it once, they went there and landed six times."

Neil Armstrong's bootprint. The first ever step on the moon by man. Or as Armstrong called it "A giant leap for mankind." Photo courtesy NASA.

Manned missions to the Moon ended in 1972 and Apollo XVII with budget cuts ending the Moon program, but that doesn't mean we've stopped exploring the moon.

"There certainly have been a lot of spacecraft that have gone there, but not just from the United States but from around the world. India has sent spacecraft there. China have sent spacecraft there. Japan, Russia as well. Some have landed, some are in orbit, but they're all exploring and learning new stuff."

Celebrations are being held at space hot-spots across North America like the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and the Johnson Space centre in Houston.

Locally, the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory near Priddis is hosting an event Saturday with guest speakers talking about the space race, the effect of the moon landings on pop culture and the future of Canadian lunar explorations.

From their website:

Join us to commemorate this amazing accomplishment.

Speakers will present talks on the space race, the Apollo 11 mission, pop culture and the space race as well as the future of Canadian lunar explorations. "Starman," Don Hladiuk and Space Historian, Joel Powell will present “Apollo 11: A Celebration 50 Years in the Making”. Both Joel & Don excitedly watched the flight of Apollo 11 on television in July 1969 (from different cities), and never lost their enthusiasm for space exploration.

Celebrate one of humanity’s greatest achievements as we look back and look forward in our exploration of our celestial neighbour, the moon.

Family fun activities include moon music by Karaoke by Europroductions, Calgary Rocketry Club rockets, solar observing with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Calgary Centre, lunar science fiction Tyche Books and much more!

Food trucks will be onsite and the RAO gift shop open offering cool 50th anniversary gifts and merchandise.

Telus Spark in Calgary is also holding a special adults only event that night.

There's no shortage of online resources to learn about the Apollo 11 Mission, and the other five Missions which landed on the moon, and the one that didn't, Apollo XIII.

It all started with U.S. President John F. Kennedy back in 1961 in a speech at Rice University.

One of the largest audiences to ever tune into a televised event watched Neil Armstong open the hatch and descend to the lunar surface.

If you really want to see what happened after The Eagle landed you can watch this video of the entire time both Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent outside the Lunar Lander.

NASA will also be live-streaming over what they're calling the "Eight Days of Apollo."

And for those who like to be entertained and educated at the same time, HBO will be replaying their popular 1998 10 part series "From the Earth To The Moon."

Another great film dealing with the Moon landing came out in 2018 with Ryan Gosling starring in "First Man."

Of course no history on the Moon landings would be complete without the one that failed, but captured the world's attention in 1970. 1995's "Apollo 13."

And even though it's not strictly Apollo related, it's a great story that paved the way for the Gemini and Apollo programs that followed. "The Right Stuff."

 

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