Well, only had a couple of very brief observing sessions since last Wednesday. It's been looking promising all afternoon today, but just as twilight is upon us there's a strong bank of clouds approaching from the South!

Anyway, just finished reading the Neil Armstrong biography "First Man", what a book! There's a fair bit of tedious detail at times but the chapters regarding the Apollo program are excellent. The descent to the Lunar surface was riveting stuff, I never appreciated before just how "seat of the pants" it was for them, they really were going into the unknown!

After Neil quit NASA I thought the book again lost its way a tad, a bit like Neil's life maybe? Just how do you top what he accomplished, he knew that he'd never get to fly in space again I guess.

What a life he led though, he earned his pilot's licence 2 weeks after his 16th birthday! His lessons were funded by his part time jobs, which also went some way towards his college fees. Self made man doesn't even begin to describe him in my opinion. I guess it's obvious that he was and always will be my hero, I don't imagine that Neil will ever see this blog, but if he did....I'd be speechless!

A photo in the book shows a 20 year Neil aboard a US Navy carrier off North Korea where he flew 70 plus combat missions!

Anyway, here's a photo I found on the Apollo Archive site, I think it kind of sums up what the book called "amiable strangers" when describing the Apollo 11 crew!

For the younger generations who may be wondering who is who, left to right Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

It seems that Buzz wasn't keen on Neil being chosen to be the first man to step on the moon.

Better get outside now and see what I can see! Errm, not very much as it turns out, Capella high overhead now, Mars is near the Pleiades (never can spell that right). That's about all at the minute.