As the 50th anniversary of the moon landing fast approaching, Wauchope-based astronomer Dave Reneke says interest in an e-book he has written continues to take off.
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The e-book covers the Apollo 11 mission which culminated on the lunar landing on July 20, 1969.
He says the e-book is on his website where it is attracting plenty of interest.
The prominent science writer and astronomer used a one-on-one interview with the second man to step foot on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, for much of the information for the book.
"It is hard to believe that the 50th anniversary is coming up," he said.
"I was one of the 3.9 billion television viewers worldwide who watched that moment unfold on July 20, 1969 and will never forget those famous words spoken by Armstrong, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
"They still give me a chill every time I hear them.
"There are a few interesting facts about the mission that I have uncovered, including that it cost the US 25 billion US dollars to put a man on the moon.
"At the time, the Saturn 5 rocket was the most powerful rocket ever built."
Mr Reneke met with Buzz Aldrin during a trip to the US.
He said he gained a much-deeper insight of this history-making flight from the man who actually carried out this unique feat.
"I spent the entire day with a living legend," he said.
"Everywhere you look are pieces of space history. His home is a living testimony to the space race with numerous items given to him by Kennedy and Khrushchev.
"There were dozens of award plaques and mementos of that amazing time adorn every wall.
"I found him to be polite, smart, a goldmine of historical facts about the space program and a visionary who can see the benefits of up coming space tourism."
Mr Reneke said his popular e-book - called Apollo 11 - The Untold Story - includes more than 50 things that many people may not know about the mission.
He said one of the startling facts he found was that the mission landed on the moon with just 17 seconds of reserve fuel remaining.
"And what about that the computer they were using had just a 74kb hard drive," he added.
For more information and to read Dave Reneke's e-book go to this website www.davidreneke.com
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