Going to the moon

Sometimes I find something worth reading or watching, but before I get around to posting it here, it gets posted on MetaFilter. And sometimes this happens twice in one day.

Robert Krulwich poses the question on his weblog: How Big Was It, Really? and compares the distances on the first moonwalk to a football or baseball field.
The next day, Neil Armstrong writes to Krulwich: Neil Armstrong Talks About The First Moon Walk.
(MetaFilter: The Original MoonWalking)

Ascent – Commemorating Shuttle is a 45 minute long YouTube video:

“Photographic documentation of a Space Shuttle launch plays a critical role in the engineering analysis and evaluation process that takes place during each and every mission. Motion and still images enable Shuttle engineers to visually identify off-nominal events and conditions requiring corrective action to ensure mission safety and success. This imagery also provides highly inspirational and educational insight to those outside the NASA family.
This compilation of film and video presents the best of the best ground-based Shuttle motion imagery from STS-114, STS-117, and STS-124 missions. Rendered in the highest definition possible, this production is a tribute to the dozens of men and women of the Shuttle imaging team and the 30yrs of achievement of the Space Shuttle Program.”

(MetaFilter: Houston we have ignition)