Will's Signed Capsule

Hi Woodsy.

Further to that brilliant Action man mercury mission video, my Action Man Mercury space capsule signed by the man himself ……

Scott Carpenter.

Will O.

A Mr.Softee Landing

It's funny how the mind goes all Mr. Whippy when you're remembering stuff.

The Artemis II splashdown reminded me of eating ice cream as a kid from a plastic capsule.

After further mind splashing I realised I was recalling a plastic ball and not a capsule.

It was the Tonibell and I remember it being a yellow or beige plastic football with a lid.

Here's a couple floating around the web along with a mag ad at the time.

So what's the plastic capsule ice cream connection I'm thinking of?

It can't be Dinky's Sea King Helicopter capsule. You'd not get much I've cream out of one of those!

No, I know now I've been misremembering something from the very early days of the blog.

Wotan Bill posted a fabulous post in 2009 about an ice cream brand called Askeys which he had as a nipper. The brand had an offer for a fantastic Lone Star Gemini space capsule, pictured here from Bills original post.

It didn't get filled with ice cream but if you are enough Askeys you'd get one. 

There can't have been many sent out I don't think. Or?

Do you remember it or an ice cream connection to NASA splashdown capsules?

Further googling brings you pictures of auctioned boxed examples like this  (with a yellow astronaut this time).

 How cool is that! 

Action Man's Mercury Mission

 Here's a cool short film from Wisdom Designs,

The Action Man Mercury Mission.

So well made, do you like it?

https://youtu.be/qcLChpgkLAw?si=YCs8GcrJZLUWyyag

Will, James and Jim Lovell

I was so sorry to hear about the passing of Jim Lovell.

When me and my boy James met him many years ago we found him to be a lovely man … very chatty and happy to pose for pictures and autographs.

He really did have "The right stuff!" 

Will O

UK

EARTHRISE!

 

Earthrise, Apollo 8, Christmas 1968 

[NASA]

ITS TIME TO LEAVE THE CAPSULE

 

I like this old plastic Montaplex Apollo capsule and LEM. Its neat how it fits together so well.

I also liked this picture of a dusty section of the capsule tucked into a lonely Spanish cellar corner!

Have you any dusty parts lost but not forgotten?

Images from El Kiosko de Akeja.

WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON ....... AGAIN!

Some beautiful optimistic online space art chosen by reader Rob C for our Moonbase Junior as he contemplates the Artemis Moon Rocket launch tomorrow.

Godspeed Artemis!

Will you be watching? Your kids? Grandkids?

Anyone actually going to the launch?

Current Events from April 1969: High School Covers the Moonshot

Hi Woodsy!

Here is something I acquired recently on ebay, which I thought might be fun for Moonbase readers. 

It is a copy of Current Events from April, 1969, a special 8-page issue on the upcoming Apollo moon shot. (Current Events was a small newspaper for middle school and high school students, which I remember reading back in the day.) 

The text is interesting, but I thought the illustrations and pictures were very cool so I pass it along. I thought it might be a fun addition if you are planning an Apollo blog thing. Enjoy!

Rob C
USA

One Small Step

 The fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing fast approaches. Its hard to believe its been so long since man first walked on the moon, I still recall those heady days of excitement like they were only yesterday. Moon fever was everywhere, tv, film, advertising, books, sweets - you couldn't move without finding something connected with the space race or the moon landing, it was such an exciting time. And then within a few short years, it was over. The last Apollo missions were cancelled due to budgetary constraints and what seemed like a lack of public interest. The Vietnam war had taken its toll on the US and as the flights to the moon had not delivered anything as remotely as exciting as media had portrayed, no aliens, no space cities and nothing but unremarkable dust and rock - the public eye turned away from the moon and space and looked elsewhere for entertainment.

 The recent plan to reach the moon once more by 2020 has generated a little resurgence of interest and the multitude of probes delivering photographs and information from the far reaches of the solar system has been hugely popular, but so far its only been a pale imitation of 1969.

Perhaps as man reaches out once more to step on the surface of our nearest neighbour, it may gather momentum, but for now I content myself with reverie and fond memories of those heady days when newsagents bulged with comics and papers chock full of rockets and sweet counters burst with candy filled spaceships and little toys.

So for now, here is a small gallery of some of my toy LEM's and moon landers, maybe as the decade rolls on modern takes on these little gems will drop out of cereal packets in the morning, or sail gracefully over carpetted moonscapes to settle silently on imagined mares.