Stargazer

Wednesday, July 16, 1969, we watched with keen interest as Apollo 11 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on what we hoped would be a historic mission to the Moon.

Just 15 years before, my scout troop camped at the old West Ranch near Clear Lake, the future home of Johnson Space Center's Mission Control. Then space exploration existed only in science fiction. But the Russians abruptly changed all that Oct. 4, 1957, when they shocked the world with the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first human-made satellite.

The early years saw the U.S. frantically playing catch-up. Apr. 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth in a space ship.

Then six weeks later, on May 25, 1961, the newlyelected President John Kennedy made his now-famous bold declaration: "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 Earth." And indeed, the race was on.

First came the Mercury flights, each carrying one astronaut. Alan Shephard's 1961 suborbital flight made him the first American in space. Then Feb. 20, 1962, Mercury Friendship 7 took John Glenn into orbit.

Next came the two-person Gemini flights in which Gemini 3 took Gus Grissom and John Young into orbit in March 1965. The next several flights saw increasingly sophisticated maneuvers.

The three-person Apollo series got off to a tragic start when Jan. 27, 1967, Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in a flash fire inside Apollo 1 during a launch pad training exercise.

In 1968 the Apollo 7 crew orbited Earth, and the Apollo 8 crew were the first humans to orbit the Moon in Dec. 1968. May 1969, Apollo 10 conducted a "dress rehearsal" by going to the Moon and doing all but landing.

Then came the main show Sunday night, July 20, 1969. Our family and friends were huddled around our small black & white tv, set up in our side yard so we could also see the real Moon low in the west. Although we were pretty confident of success, it was still a nail-biter as we knew it could end in failure, or worse. But when it became apparent that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had landed safely, we were ecstatic. To this day, I get goose bumps at Armstrong's famous first words from the surface of the Moon, directed at my old campsite: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." • Sky Calendar. * 14 Tue. morning: Brilliant Venus is to the upper left of Taurus' reddish star Aldebaran low in the east before dawn. * 15 Wed.: The Moon is at 3rd quarter. * 18 Sat. morning: The crescent Moon, the Pleiades star cluster, Aldebaran, Mars, and Venus are grouped low in the east before dawn, with Venus and Aldebaran at the bottom, the Pleiades at the top. * 21 Tue.: The new Moon produces a total solar eclipse over India, China, and the Pacifi c, but not here. * 24 Fri. evening: The crescent Moon is below Saturn this evening and to the ringed planet's left tomorrow evening low in the west at dusk. * 26 Sun. morning: The reddish planet Mars is to the upper left of the equally bright reddish star Aldebaran low in the east before dawn. * 27/28 Mon./Tue.: Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks with besting viewing after the Moon sets from midnight to dawn. * 28 Tue.: The Moon is at 1st quarter. • Naked-eye Planets. Evening: Saturn is low in the west early in the evening and Jupiter comes up in the east by 11 p.m. Morning: Jupiter is the brightest object in the south with "morning star" Venus low in the east with much fainter Mars above.