Wired contributor Steven Leckart visits Plantronics, the company responsible for creating the headset that transmitted “One small step for man…” on the moon in 1969. Now, they make ear molds to collect data for improving headsets.

At the Pacific Pinball Expo in San Rafael, players of all ages can try their hands at nearly 400 different pinball machines. The expo runs through the weekend at the Marin County Civic Center.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

SAN RAFAEL, California–You might not think of pinball as an educational tool, but to some devotees of the age-old arcade favorite, that’s exactly what they can be.

That’s because pinball machines have been around for decades, and often have themes representative of the era in which they were built. And this weekend, visitors to the Pacific Pinball Expo here, an event billed as the “world’s largest” pinball show, can see history on display in bright lights and enhanced with familiar bells and whistles, things like the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the first man on the moon, contemporary music from the 1950s and much more.

At the expo, which opened Friday at the Marin County Civic Center here (admission is $25 for adults and $15 for kids 12 and under), visitors can see more than 350 machines from as early as the 1920s, and with names like “Wild West,” “Quartette,” “Dragonette, “4-Belles” and much more.

And the mission statement of the Pacific Pinball Museum, which is behind the expo, is as follows: “To inspire an interest in science, art and history through pinball and to preserve and promote this important part of American culture.”

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Originally posted at Geek Gestalt

The moment that man stepped foot on the moon is definitely one of the more admirable historical moments of all time. Being that it is so admirable and so absolutely intriguing that this event actually occurred; many people want to learn more about it. Apollo 11 trivia is helpful to those who want to learn a great deal of information about this voyage into space in a very short period of time. In fact, several of the facts that you would learn through trivia would take you hours, if not days, to find in a book – or even surfing online.

One of the main focuses of the Apollo 11 quiz is the fact that it was the first mission to carry humans to the moon. It was on this voyage that the famous words, “That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind,” were uttered by Neil Armstrong as he became the first human being to ever set foot on the moon.

Do you know the name of the lunar module used in Apollo 11? Its name was “Eagle”; named after the United States national bird. The name “Columbia” was chosen for the larger command module.

Another interesting piece of Apollo 11 trivia is the fact that the Apollo missions had actually been ongoing and this was actually the fifth mission of Project Apollo that involved human spaceflight. Aside from that, it was also the third voyage by humans to the moon; however, no human had ever stepped foot on the moon until this specific voyage.

The Apollo 11’s lunar module, Eagle, landed on the surface of the moon on the 20^th of July, 1969. It landed at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. An interesting fact is that the Eagle had barely enough fuel left for 25 seconds more, as the two men had encountered some difficulties during landing due to their training at NASA. Things were quite a bit different in reality and the several alarms that were going off certainly didn’t help to calm the already likely nerve-wracking maneuver.

The crew was able to complete the mission, which would have put a big smile on the face of former President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy had set a goal to put a man on the moon prior to the end of the decade and this goal had now not only been fulfilled, but broadcast worldwide for any who wished to see the triumphant event. Clearly, this feat proves that anything is possible.

Turns out the way a door was oriented made sure Armstrong would be the first human to set foot on an extraterrestrial body.

Courtesy Wikicommons

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which featured Neil Armstrong becoming for the first man on the moon. One of the few times in science fiction when reality matched the imagination (for late 60s geeks at least).

So why did Armstrong end up enjoying the first of firsts? (indeed, currently the only first not based on Earth) It all had to do with the way the lunar module—the vehicle mission commander Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin used to land on the lunar surface—was designed:

The real decision had already been made, by some anonymous design engineer. The Lunar Module’s moonwalk hatch… hinged inward, with the hinges not at the top or the bottom, but at one side – the pilot’s side. It swung open away from the commander and toward the pilot. So when the hatch was open, Armstrong had a clear path to manoeuvre out through the opening, while Aldrin was penned in behind the hatch.

…The only way that Aldrin could go out first was for the two men to swap places before opening the hatch. This wasn’t quite impossible, but it was very difficult; when Armstrong and Aldrin tried it in an LM mockup, they damaged some of the cabin equipment! The commander simply had to go first.

Aldrin, who made sure everyone knew he wanted to be first, decided that being first was not worth crippling delicate equipment, potentially preventing a return flight.

Courtesy Wikipedia

At least being first was never an issue for Michael Collins, who remained in lunar orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin were busy making history.

Source

Post from: The Gadget Blog

This is the very first photo that shows an astronaut’s face while on the Moon as their faces are hidden behind a visor in every other picture. This one is actually a single frame from a video that was being shot from the Lunar Lander and has been converted from film to high-def by Spacecraft Films for Andrew Chailkin’s new book, Voices from the Moon.

As it turns out, Neil Armstrong was the one generally with the camera and most of the photos from the Apollo 11 missions are of Buzz, the second man on the Moon. It’s a good thing that this newly released image will probably go down in history as one of the top, iconic images from that first mission.