Relive dramatic race to the moon during space odyssey talk
Fifty years ago astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.
This world-changing event will be the subject of a Christmas lecture next month by renowned historian Andrew Lound, presented by The Wolverhampton Society.
He will be taking the audience back to the 1960s to retell the dramatic story of the Apollo programme and the race to the moon.
In May 1961, American president John F. Kennedy announced his goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
"It was a challenge beyond understanding. Not everybody believed it could be achieved and a lot of people thought Kennedy was just blowing smoke," says Mr Lound, who is National Coordinator (UK) for the Planetary Society.
At the time of Kennedy's speech, the engineering and technology needed to enable man to make those footsteps on the lunar surface wasn't in place and it required a global effort to make the mission a success.
"It proved we could achieve whatever we wanted to if we put our minds to it.
"Tens of thousands of people around the world had to work together. It showed that what we could do in wartime, come together to get something done, we could also do in peacetime," says Mr Lound.
One of the workers who played a key role in the moon landing was British engineer Francis Bacon who developed the fuel cell used by NASA.
"Without fuel cells everything grinds to a halt. When Richard Nixon met Francis Bacon, he put his arm around him and said 'without you there wouldn't have been Apollo'," says Mr Lound, who has a master's degree in astronomy.
During his lecture, he will be showing the audience the high resolution images from the moon landing which he says thanks to the latest technology "are far sharper than they have ever been".
"The audience will get the whole story; the highs, the lows and the funny, silly bits. They will understand what it took to get to the moon and that it wasn't simple and had people rewriting the rule book," says Mr Lound, who lives in Great Barr.
The Apollo: A Moon Odyssey lecture will take place at 7.30pm on December 9 at Linden House.
Quintin Watt, secretary of The Wolverhampton Society, said: "Andrew is one of the biggest names in local history and it's a great coup for the society that he's coming to give this lecture. We're sure it's going to be a great success."
Entrance to the lecture is by ticket only and costs £5. For more information see wolverhamptonsociety.com
