'Apollo 11 did not end with the successful splashdown of the three astronauts last Thursday', ran an Electronics Weekly story in its issue of July 30th 1969, 'equipment for scientific experiments was left on the moon and the samples of rock and dust which were brought back will give scientists unique material for analysis.'
'One piece of apparatus left behind by Armstrong and Aldrin was the seismometer or moonquake station. This soon proved its effectiveness by transmitting the astronauts' footsteps and the pounding of Aldrin's hammer', continued the report.
'The 112-lb seismic station, made by Bendix is powered by a miniature Mallory mercury battery designed to last two years or more and contains nuclear-powered radioisotopic heaters designed by Monsanto'.'
The report continues: 'A laser rangefinder developed for the USAF Cambridge Research Laboratories by Hughes aircraft has been installed on a 60-inch telescope in the
Many years later, Neil Armstrong recounted why it was not possible to immediately test the reflector.
In fact it was scheduled to be the very first experiment he and Aldrin were required to do after landing on the moon. They were to set up mirrors on the moon to be accessed by laser from Mt Hamilton to judge the distance between the earth and the moon.
"We needed to do that so we could claim our expenses," he joked.
However the first few times they fired the laser it kept missing, and eventually they found that it was the longitude and latitude of the Mt Hamilton observatory which had been wrongly determined in the past.
"So the first experiment on the moon was to find out where
TOMORROW MORNING: TEN WORST SEMI INDUSTRY M&A COCK-UPS
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