Celebrating the Lunar leap

As the world remembers 52 years of man’s first landing on the moon, Nehru Science Centre event is about keeping the memory alive

The late Michael Jackson, dubbed as the ‘king of pop,’ may have brought the moonwalk into everyday lexicon, but years before, there was another moonwalk of the historical kind.

On July 20, 1969 (for some countries it may have already been July 21 as time zones differ), Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module pilot Edwin E Aldrin Jr (Buzz) landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on the moon. Armstrong’s first step on the lunar surface and his words, “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” still resonate over five decades later. Aldrin’s description of the lunar surface as ‘magnificent desolation’ fired up the imagination of millions of youngsters who dreamt of lunar exploration and space travel.

Explore

It is this curiosity that the Nehru Science Centre (NSC) in Mumbai wants to keep alive with a celebration of the moon landing today. The Mahalaxmi Centre’s officials stated that celebrations will be virtual, with the Centre being shut. The Library Officer, S M Bani said, “We mark this day annually, just like several other scientific milestones. The idea is to keep alive scientific temper and stoke the fires of exploration and achievement in the young. When we acknowledge this achievement, it is a signal that landmarks are meant to inspire and educate. We may have moved light years ahead when it comes to space travel, yet that first giant leap for mankind still has its footprint on our minds, and will do so for years to come.”

Programme

The Centre will mark today, with an online quiz and a lecture. The lecturer on moon landing day celebration is Dr Meenakshi Wadhwa. Wadhwa, is director and foundation professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University. Wadhwa is a planetary scientist and educator, interested in time scales and processes involved in the formation and evolution of the Solar system and the planets. Wadhwa has hunted for meteorites in Antarctica with the US Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) programme.

Said Umesh Kumar, curator and head of education, Nehru Science Centre, “These events are important as they create awareness about achievement. Stimulating quiz questions, lectures from different perspectives give youngsters an idea about where we stand in the space science race. Race, not in negative terms but a healthy global outlook.”

Kumar stressed that Dr Wadhwa from India will make youth aware that, “they can pursue very rewarding and exciting careers in these scientific streams. This is not just about NASA, we also have our Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is doing stupendous work and they can certainly look at opportunities there. What this basically does is to test knowledge, expand horizons, create avenues all through the prism of past triumphs paving the way for future exploration.”

Memories

Arvind Paranjpye, director, Nehru Planetarium at Worli said that the Planetarium had held a huge event two years ago, marking 50 years of the moon landing. “At that time, several attendees were those who had actually seen Neil Armstrong and his crew in Mumbai. The team was on a tour of several nations after that epoch breaking landing and they had arrived in Mumbai then. Some of us were kids then, and spoke about how our fathers carried us on their shoulders so we could get a look at Armstrong and crew who I remember were hosted at a maidan. Others were glued to the radio listening to commentary. We had young science enthusiasts at the Planetarium that day, for whom, reports about travel to space are fairly common, though still fascinating. We older astronomers and space science enthusiasts tried to capture for them the hey-I-have-goosebumps feeling of that moment and that day.”

Register here:

Registration link for the Lecture: https://tinyurl.com/NSCmoonlandingday2021

Moon Landing Day Quiz link: https://tinyurl.com/Moonlandingdayquiz2021

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