Wednesday 1 July 2009

When in July 1969 did Apollo 11 land on the moon?

Royal Mail is issuing a 10-stamp commemorative sheet marking the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing. The sheet is issued on 21 July. Internetstamps are producing a similar Business Smilers Sheet and they have sponsored a pictorial postmark for the 20th July for covers that they are producing. That postmark of course can't be used on the Royal Mail sheet which is issued the following day.

This all comes down to the fact that the moonlanding was a night-time affair, grabbing prime television audiences. I remember watching through to the early hours of 21 July as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon's surface. In Houston it was still 20 July, which is why wikipedia records that "On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above".


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