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Apollo 11, on its 20th anniversary

Broadcast Date: July 13, 1989

The 1969 mission of Apollo 11 to the moon inspired many future Canadian astronauts. In 1989 this report from CBC's The Journal, Marc Garneau, Roberta Bondar and Steve MacLean, discuss how the flight inspired their career choices at an early age. This report also features Bob McDonald talking about the importance of space exploration, and Harrison Schmitt, the last astronaut to go to the moon.

Apollo 11, on its 20th anniversary

• Harrison H. Schmitt was born in 1935 in New Mexico. Equipped with a doctorate in geology, Schmitt joined NASA in 1965. After a year of flight training, Schmitt was assigned to the Apollo space program. His first flight to the moon was the last for NASA aboard Apollo 17 which logged the longest space flight in Apollo history, 12 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes. 

• David Strangway earned his Ph.D from the University of Toronto in 1960. Ten years later he became the chief of the geophysics branch at NASA. He led the research team that examined rocks from the moon.

• Bob McDonald was the host of Wonderstruck on CBC Television at the time of this appearance. He joined Quirks & Quarks on CBC Radio in 1992.

• As mentioned by Schmitt, Helium-3 is an isotope of helium, a colourless gas. It is light, non-radioactive and found on the moon in the loose dust-like particles that cover its rocks. This material is also known as "regolith".

Apollo 11, on its 20th anniversary

Medium: Television

Program: The Journal

Broadcast Date: July 13, 1989

Guest(s): Roberta Bondar, Marc Garneau, Bob MacDonald, Steve Maclean, Ken Money, Harrison Schmitt, David Strangway

Host: Bill Cameron

Duration: 16:49

Photo: Astronaut Harrison Schmitt on the moon, courtesy of NASA.

Last updated:
July 16, 2009