MOONBASE CENTRAL

Friday, 19 July 2019

APOLLO 11: PENULTIMATE DAY

Apollo 11 mission log 19th July:

US Astronauts Collins, Aldrin and Armstrong

orbit the lunar surface in preparation for LEM release

and moon landing tomorrow,

20th July 1969.

NEARLY LANDED: PROJECT MOON TOYS, JOE 90 COMIC, 19th JULY 1969

I know a lot of you have a soft spot for the Clangers, especially Kevin and Bill, so here's a short preview of a what the Lunarnauts really got to see.

Tune in to CBeebies tomorrow for The Clangers special commemorative episode, 'The Visitor'.

Now, where's my swanee whistle?!

TV DOCUMENTARY MOON BUS IDENTIFIED

I've identified the Project SWORD Moon Bus which Kev alerted as to yesterday - the one that appeared on ITV's The Day We Walked on the Mon documentary.

Here it is in the modern documentary:

You can also just about make out the corner of the SWORD Cape Kennedy Set and the Scramble Bug in the left corner.

It appears in the documentary at 15.10 minutes [the programme is available online for the next 28 days in the UK https://www.itv.com/hub/the-day-we-walked-on-the-moon/2a5782a0001 ]

The tell-tale sign as to the origin of this Moon Bus is the black sticker on its lower top side. Its a dymo home-made label done on a hand gadget like this:

These Dymo labels were used in the Hong Kong trade toy show of 1968 in London.

The show generated a short ITN film, which we have covered before. I call it the White Nuclear Ferry film. In it you can clearly see the same Moon Bus with the same dymo label [writing unclear but they look like numbers]. Its being inspected by a female member of the show team.

For the moment you can can see the ITN short film on the Reuters archive here, around 20 seconds in:

https://www.itv.com/hub/the-day-we-walked-on-the-moon/2a5782a0001

I assume that the modern documentary makers have bought the clip from Reuters for use in the Day We Walked on the Moon.

What do you think of either film readers?

Thursday, 18 July 2019

STARBUG AT SMALLSPACE

A few photos of a Jupiter Mining Corporation Class II ship-to-surface transport vehicle better known as STARBUG.

This studio scale replica model of the crew of Red Dwarf's primary shuttle craft was built by David Sisson. Here's a photo of him holding the model, explaining it's intricacies to a Smallspace attendee.

There was also a smaller model of the craft on another display, unfortunately I don't who made this particular little beauty. Perhaps someone can let know.

PROJECT SWORD MOON BUS ON UK TV!

Hi,

Just watching ITV's The Day We Walked on the Moon. About 20 mins in, there is a big close-up of a Sword Moonbus!

Kevin

MY BATTERY'S FLAT. WHERE: VENUS ORBIT!

There's an advert on TV where the AA repair a broken down bug from Red Dwarf on the moon.

Its comical but maybe they're predicting the future there.

Can you imagine a space-based version of the AA or the RAC that goes round fixing broken down craft in space?

Is this the future of SpaceX, NASA and Virgin Galactic?

TV21 Brand finds new owner

Comic News blog Down the Tubes reports that media and comics giant Rebellion has secured the rights to TV21, SOLO and Tornado, along with other Fleetway licences. Rebellion owns various game rights and currently publishes 2000Ad comic. I wonder if the company will attempt to revitalise the classic brand, or are audiences now too far removed from the possible futures offered by the comic ?