Tag Archive

Amazing Encounters – Apollo 13′s Fred Haise

Published on November 6, 2014 By SpaceKate

You’ve seen the film, you know the dramatic story, but meeting one of the members of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission is something else. Ken Willoughby and the Space Lectures team secured Apollo 13 Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise as their guest of honour in Pontefract for the final weekend of October. We all came […]

Ken Mattingly – Apollo’s humble hero

Published on April 21, 2014 By SpaceKate

“I would encourage you to understand that the people that made Apollo happen, are not here” says Ken Mattingly, self-effacingly. “There wasn’t an airplane big enough” he adds with a wry smile. Mattingly, command module pilot of Apollo 16 and two-time shuttle astronaut, has come to Pontefract to talk to us thanks to the hard […]

Space Lectures: Apollo 12′s Alan Bean, in his own words

Published on October 16, 2013 By SpaceKate

Captain Alan Bean was the fourth of only 12 men ever to walk on the Moon. I was lucky enough to hear him share some of his stories, and speak about the way he is trying to capture his experience through the medium of painting. Here are some of the highlights of the talk he […]

Dinner with Apollo12 Astronaut Alan Bean

Published on October 15, 2013 By SpaceKate

It’s Friday 11th October, 2013. I’m aching from a five and a half hour car journey from central London to Pontefract, but as I stretch my legs and make my way into the hotel, I’m already excited. Tonight I’m having dinner with a man who walked on the Moon. Okay, so I’ve not got a […]