James Burke takes us Inside the Apollo Command Module

James Burke takes us inside a replica of the apollo command module

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• James
• Burke
• BBC
• NASA
• Apollo
• Command
• Module

[morganfitzp]

Wow! Where'd this come from? This is James Burke in 1969—you can tell by the future tense used to describe the three astronauts who will land on the moon. And almost a decade before Connections, Burke's deadpan snark is just starting to shine at the 3:30 mark with his reference to the blob of urine mistaken for a star.

[alijanlondon]

@morganfitzp in 2009 one of the BBC channels had a 'Moon Season' to commemorate 40th anniversary of the 1st Lunar Landing. This clip was an 'insert' made for a programme called 'Tomorrow's World' probably in early 1969. James Burke was a brilliant presenter of all the BBC's apollo coverage, he explained complex subjects very well.

[Isuckatpaintball2]

dosent the military get like somewhere around 500x the funding of nasa?

[alijanlondon]

@Isuckatpaintball2 probably. Much, much more was spent on the vietnam war than the apollo programme not to mention the human cost, but people started saying the programme was a waste of money after apollo 11. I think it's the same for most western countries - willing to spend billions on war (not least the UK)

[Director84]

@alijanlondon Hence you could say the Vietnam war was the reason for the Apollo program being cancelled early after Apollo 17. The money had been needed there.

[alijanlondon]

@Director84 don't talk bollocks. The programme was curtailed soon after Apollo 11. Lack of public support was the reason.

[dcb1138]

Imagine this. Once the Space shuttle is retired, 20 - 30 years later, people will be amazed that it ever worked. There will also be people that claimed it was a hoax and never flew in orbit at all. I remember Apollo as a child. We took moon flights for granted.

[loperspest]

'Yeah, the idea of WINGED spacecraft, that is REUSABLE? That's crazy talk! If we could do it then, why can't we do it now? And don't get me started on the computers, your head implant has more memory then the entire spacecraft! Must have been a hoax.'

And that is what they will say. Seems silly now, it will be silly then, but I bet some schill will make money off of it.

[morganfitzp]

@alijanlondon Burke refers to his coverage of the moon launch and landing in Connections and it's so great to see the roots of his hands-on approach to journalism—really fun!

[morganfitzp]

@alijanlondon As a kid I went inside one at Boston's Museum of Science. Much comfier quarters for kids than the 5'11" astronauts who got stuffed in these things.

[blindescape01]

 I just wish NASA would go back to the moon since there is a whole new generation that would enjoy the experience.

[blindescape01]

@Isuckatpaintball2 Especially now it is. The military spending is mostly for jobs.

[redhat11]

@Isuckatpaintball2 USSR had their program part of the military for that very reason during the space race