By Curtis Galbraith

Apollo 11

Age-old dream to walk on the moon says astronomer as we mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing

Jul 20, 2019 | 7:11 AM

It was 50 years ago today that human beings stepped foot on a celestial body other than Earth for the first time.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to set foot on the moon when Apollo 11 landed on the Sea of Tranquility.

Frank Florian with Telus World of Science in Edmonton says people’s fascination with not only the moon, but with exploration, make the first moon landing resonate with people today.

He adds people now have more sophisticated computers on their phones than were on the space craft that went to the moon.

“Those computers they used on the moon, they got overloaded very quickly with data, especially with the landing radar and other things when they were going down to the moon. That’s what the alarms were with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin going down is that the computers couldn’t keep up. (These days) our computers wouldn’t even break a sweat trying to do any of the the calculations that were done back then.”

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Florian says the missions to the moon led to many technological innovations we use today as things had to be made smaller and better so they would fit into the space capsules.

He adds Canadians made a contribution to the first moon landing. That included scientists from this country helping to design the space craft and working in Mission Control.

“There were Canadians that (were) the high talent here in Canada that were pulled towards getting the Americans to the moon and, in fact, there were some components that of the luna excursion module that were actually made here in Quebec, in Canada. The legs themselves, not the pads on the legs, but the legs on the lunar excursion vehicle, the LEM that landed on the moon, those were all made in Quebec by a company there.”

Florian says its was “an age-old dream” for people to set foot on the moon. He adds if the dream to go back is strong enough, it will happen, but it seems to be only talk at this point.

“I just think it’s an incredible achievement 50 years ago. We should be celebrating it, because who knows the next time we’ll be on the moon? They’re saying in 2024. I’d like to believe that, but just knowing how everything works, that might not be the case. It still might be many more years after that before we get back to the moon. I sure hope when we do, a Canadian will be up there as well to actually walk on the surface of the moon.”

He is hoping women will be able to walk on the moon in future missions as well.

Telus World of Science has been holding events all week to mark the anniversary. That includes rocket launches, the showing of movies, and a live sky show where people can see the sky as it looked from the moon. There is also a chance to see a moon rock collected by the Apollo 15 astronauts. People can also come by during times the moon is in the first quarter phase and see sites where Apollo missions landed.