Hello all,
in collaboration with IYA2009 Vito Technology is ready to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. For this important event we are launching a new version of Star Walk (to be approved soon) and would like to give away redeem codes for it. What do you need to do to get them?
Well first of all tell us your stories related to the 20th of July, whether you followed live the moon landing in 1969 or you have listened from your parents. Once your story has been read and selected we will publish it here and on IYA2009 and we will contact you to give you a redeem code and we will ask you to write a review on Star Walk on determined sites (only condition to give away iTunes codes). You can write your stories directly on our blog or contact me at erika@vitotechnology.com
Now read the first story we received from Lynne (Teacher of Physics, Space Science and Astronomy at Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois)
This is my story….
I was 13 years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. At that age, I was “hooked on space” and wanted to be an astronaut like many other children. I was also amazed at the landing and watched TV for any bit of news I could hear. I can remember watching the landing on a tiny black and white television set in my parent’s kitchen apartment in Niles, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago). I was so intent on the TV, that I don’t remember who was watching it with me. The difficulty of being able to understand over the scratchy signal and the lines/snow on the set were the visuals and sounds I remember most. Not long after that, my aunt and uncle got a new refrigerator and my cousin and I got the box, of which we made into a space capsule and pretended to take a trip to the moon. I was always passionate about space ever since those days of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.
As a physics and astronomy teacher, I have since wanted my students to have a connection with those days of pioneering exploration. I can remember telling a colleague in 1989 with regret that it was the first year that I had students (high school seniors) that were born after the last man walked on the moon. So, after that, as part of my curriculum, I have assigned students the task of interviewing their parents, grandparents, and persons who were alive back when Apollo was “real-time” and ask them about their experiences. Since I usually give this assignment around the Thanksgiving holiday, students often have lively family discussions about it. Some of the highlights students brought back to me included an old hand-made Christmas ornament of Sputnik made by a father who was a boy scout at the time; a story about a parent who lived in Poland and listened to the landing with his dad on shortwave radio because the Communists didn’t air the live footage; and a story about a young man’s uncle who was appalled that the Americans had landed on the moon first and who knew Yuri Gagarin. What is most interesting is that some student’s families knew many details and saved the newspapers. Others were not interested at all. For myself, I remember the image on the old black and white TV.