I don’t know about you but I was totally enthralled by the Artemis II ten day mission to the dark side of the moon. I have a NASA app on my mobile phone which kept me up to date with the position and speed of the Orion capsule at all times as well as providing me with high definition images of the moon’s surface.

It got me thinking about the technology available the last time mankind visited the moon. I can’t exactly pinpoint where I was when Neil Armstrong set foot upon the surface. I do remember feeling slightly peeved that my regular cartoon programme was interrupted by grainy black and white footage of moon walks.

There weren’t any handheld devices in those days apart from your calculator. Type in 58008 and hold it upside down for some instant smut. Hardly hard core but enough to raise a snigger among pre pubescent boys.

There was nothing mobile about the phone either. The black bakelite monolith sat on a table in the corner of our dining room which I would answer politely with a ‘Bearsden 5095’. The few calls I actually made were by permission and closely monitored by a clock glancing parent. It was even common courtesy to leave a silver coin if using someone elses telephone. How did you communicate with your friends ? By walking across the street, knocking on the door and using the phrase ‘Is (insert name) coming out to play ?’  No emojis required.

There were also wall mounted trim phones with buttons instead of dials and their long coiled leads meant you could stretch in to the kitchen for more privacy. The cord would inevitably coil on itself and make the handset crash to the floor whenever you tried to return it to it’s cradle. The trill warbling sound of the trim phone was annoying though. It didn’t have the gravitas of the bell like double ring of the old bakelite. Tring Tring. ‘Bearsden 5095’. There I go again. It’s almost Pavlovian!

As for the television reception. We had a black and white telly back then and the screen was probably smaller than your average tablet these days. Remotes were me being told to go over and switch the circular dial on the set. I can still hear that satisfying clunk as you turned it around. Most revolutions would bring a hiss and crackle and a picture of a hail storm on a dark night. There were only three TV channels in the UK then but sometimes you could tune into taxi radios or walkie talkies. Air traffic also interfered with the picture so making out what the astronauts were actually doing was quite hard. Maybe it was from a film lot in Holywood ?

Apparently Buzz Aldrin was approached by an irate moon landing denier at a conference and he punched the guys lights out. He was in his seventies at the time. Way to go Buzz ! 

It certainly is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind  from a technology point of view. I’m looking forward to the next moon mission and beyond. Mars in our lifetime ? Perhaps.

And wasn’t it a bit of a coup for Tunnocks tea cakes to sponsor the parachutes!

Here are some moon tunes from the time.

(Post by John Allan from Bridgetown, Western Australia – April 2026)