Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Mar 6, 2006 9:26:13 GMT -6
Cronkite on space: inspiration, not information
Honoring the enthusiasm, overlooking the inaccuracies
Monday, March 6, 2006
NASA’s ceremony last Tuesday, February 28, to honor veteran newsman Walter Cronkite with his own personal piece of a Moon rock was a fitting reminder of how central Cronkite was to the American public’s impressions of the Apollo Moon landings. Cronkite, the only non-astronaut ever to be awarded such an unearthly memento, wasn’t actually allowed to keep it (it remains illegal for any US citizen to own lunar samples brought back by Apollo astronauts), so he “loaned” the specimen to his alma mater, the University of Texas in Austin.
According to NASA’s February 16 press release, the award was explicitly attributed to Cronkite “for his coverage of America’s space program”, and adds that he “is the best remembered journalist for his commentary and enthusiastic coverage of the historic progression of missions from the early Mercury launches, through the ground-breaking Gemini missions, to the Apollo 11 and subsequent moon landings.” Continues the NASA citation: “His marathon, live coverage of the first moon landing brought the excitement and impact of the historic event into the homes of millions of Americans and observers around the world.”
To keep the record straight, however, we must recognize that Cronkite’s news coverage was far from straight and far from complete. As a veteran Apollo-era astronaut told me privately, Cronkite “seems marvelous, unless you happen to be an expert in what he’s talking about.” Sadly that was the consensus among space workers, who still loved him for his unabashed enthusiasm.
For the wider public, such realization of reality has been rarer. Nostalgia of his impressive past, and especially his role in communicating the excitement of space exploration to the public, have led to many adulatory comments that exaggerate Cronkite’s accuracy on this particular subject.
Cronkite showed laudable candor and his classic humor in discussing how the TV simulation of the Apollo 11 landing completed its Moon touchdown many seconds before Armstrong actually set the Eagle lunar module down on the surface.
But then when showing the view of Armstrong descending the LM ladder and giving his famous “One small step” oration, the program incorrectly matched the astronaut’s spring off the ladder onto the footpad with the moment of the comments about his step onto the surface.
Actually, once off the ladder and on the footpad, Armstrong jumped back up onto the ladder’s bottom rung, then moved back onto the footpad, and only then gently moved one foot from the pad to the lunar dirt. The motion was barely visible on the screen.
That was the real “small step” of his speech, not the incorrectly presented big jump off the ladder. With the incorrect audio-video matchup, a viewer is genuinely puzzled by the “small step” reference. And they would remain puzzled and misinformed until they realized that Cronkite’s account was bogus.
Full story here: www.thespacereview.com/article/570/1
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I don't see major incompetence or flubs here, but I still like Cronkite...
