Wednesday, December 21

Heinlein and Clarke discuss the Moon landings as they happen

YouTube screen grab

Chances are that anyone in their 50s or older will remember watching Apollo 11 land on the Moon. And while younger people may not envy your age, many of us sure do wish we had witnessed that bit of history live—human beings landing on, then exploring another world, right before our eyes.

Thanks to documentaries and YouTube, the younger set can experience some of the flavor of the late 1960s today, as well as what the Moon landing meant at the time to America and the world. The zeitgeist of hope and possibility might perhaps best be captured in a CBS News discussion on July 20, 1969—Apollo 11 landing day. Hosted by the inimitable Walter Cronkite, the great newsman interviewed science fiction authors Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein about the implications of NASA's achievement. The program featured a discussion just after the landing, with a second segment following the first moonwalk by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

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