SpaceFest V! The Apollo Panel

This morning, live from Tucson, we are about to enjoy the Apollo panel, a highlight of the annual SpaceFest event.

On the panel, we have:

Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7) (WC)

Jim McDivitt (Gemini 4, Apollo 9) (JM)

Richard Gordon (Gemini 11, Apollo 12) (RG)

Fred Haise (Apollo 13) (FH)

Ed Mitchell (Apollo 14) (EM)
Prof Brian Cox (moderator) (BC)
Bruce McCandless (Capcom during Apollo, first untethered space walk) (BM)

WC: Want to thank you all for being here and giving us the opportunity to meet up as old friends. Perhaps we can take you back to the reality of space exploration this morning. When you look back at Apollo, Apollo was truly man’s greatest adventure.

Tim Peake assigned to the ISS in 2015!

Reception to celebrate ESA astronaut Tim Peake on behalf of the UK Space Agency at the Houses of Parliament

I was excited to receive an invitation three days in advance of this reception on Monday 20th May and wondered with intrigue as to what the "ESA Astronaut announcement" would be. I leapt out of bed on the Sunday morning when the news broke on Twitter that Tim had been assigned to a five month mission in 2015, as by my previous calculations and hearsay on various forums, I had thought 2016 was the earliest he could hope for.  A few hours later I had verified the content of the embargoed press release - Tim really was assigned to the November 2015 launch!

Thomas Reiter, David Willetts, Tim Peake and David Parker
© Max Alexander 2013 Max Alexander/UK Space Agency