'Space nerd' recalls Apollo

Fifty years ago was a monumental time in American history. On July 20, 1969, our country made President John F. Kennedy's 1961 proclamation - to put a man on the moon and return him safely, by the end of the decade - a reality.

As part of its "Space Week" and in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon walk, the Cloquet Public Library hosted John Cavanaugh Monday evening. It was the anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew lifting off and making history five days later. Cavanaugh is an amateur astronomer and teaches classes through Cloquet's Community Education on stargazing and appreciating the galaxies.

Present in the audience were those who could remember the awesome event and where they were, along with those very young - just learning what Apollo and 1969 were all about. Audience member Dan Unulock was in the Air Force, stationed at Patrick Air Force base in Florida in the early 1970s. He described what it was like to witness the launch of Apollo 15 from just a few miles away, the closest one could get to a launch. He said the ground shook and the sound was like a sonic boom that came toward him and around him and then past him. It was unforgettable, he said.

Cavanaugh was born just before the Sputnik satellite was successfully launched by the Russians in 1957. Shortly after, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, creating NASA, and the space race began. The NASA Mercury and Gemini programs preceded Apollo, and all missions were geared toward a subsequent moon rendezvous and, eventually, landings.

The Russians had the first cosmonaut in space, the first female to orbit the earth, the first animal in orbit, and the first walk in space. The U.S. was behind.

If you were a kid in the 1960s and, Cavanaugh said, a nerd like he was, you were either turned on "by the space program or dinosaurs." He liked both, but really liked space. He would watch new episodes of "Star Trek" on television and then go outside and gaze at the moon and stars.

It was amazing that the moon landing could be accomplished, Cavanaugh said, considering there is more computer power in individual cell phones today than there was in the entire Apollo 11 space module.

Cavanaugh brought a wealth of information including books, magazines and photos in addition to his own PowerPoint presentation. Also of interest was his scrapbook, which his mother gave him when he was a young child, telling him to fill it with "science things." His scrapbook is a documented record of the 1960s space race.

A retired training coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the amateur astronomer did an excellent job summarizing and explaining events as well as answering audience questions. He even showed some products in his outdoors backpack that were developed during the space race.

The self-acclaimed "space nerd" said that Apollo and the moon walk proved that any technological issue or goal can be achieved if we can tolerate the cost and risk involved, although that doesn't always happen.