Two ‘Wow’ Moments In The History Of Space Exploration

After his historic trip to the moon, Neil Armstrong became close friends with one of the first two humans to summit Mt. Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary. The two historic figures later traveled the world together – including a trip to the North Pole. This image shows a page from a logbook at an Inn in arctic Canada where Neil Amstrong and Edmund Hillary stayed during their trip to the North Pole in July 1985. Note the arrows and exclamation points added by someone later. Credit: Stephen Braham.

Contrast this with the so-called “Wow! Signal” detected during a SETI Search in 1977.

According to a WIkipedia entry “a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while working on a SETI project. The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-Solar System origin. It lasted for the full 72-second duration that Big Ear observed it, but has not been detected again. Amazed at how closely the signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal in the antenna used, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment “Wow!” on its side. This comment became the name of the signal.”

Note: In 2009 an astronaut, Scott Parazynski, carried 4 small Apollo 11 Moon rocks picked up by Neil Armstrong, to the summit of Mt. Everest. A year later, those Moon rocks, plus a piece of the summit of Mt. Everest, were taken to the International Space Station where they are now a permanent exhibition.

After his historic trip to the moon, Neil Armstrong became close friends with one of the first two humans to summit Mt. Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary. The two historic figures later traveled the world together – including a trip to the North Pole. This image shows a page from a logbook at an Inn in arctic Canada where Neil Amstrong and Edmund Hillary stayed during their trip to the North Pole in July 1985. Note the arrows and exclamation points added by someone later. Credit: Stephen Braham.

Contrast this with the so-called “Wow! Signal” detected during a SETI Search in 1977.

According to a WIkipedia entry “a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while working on a SETI project. The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-Solar System origin. It lasted for the full 72-second duration that Big Ear observed it, but has not been detected again. Amazed at how closely the signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal in the antenna used, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment “Wow!” on its side. This comment became the name of the signal.”

Note: In 2009 an astronaut, Scott Parazynski, carried 4 small Apollo 11 Moon rocks picked up by Neil Armstrong, to the summit of Mt. Everest. A year later, those Moon rocks, plus a piece of the summit of Mt. Everest, were taken to the International Space Station where they are now a permanent exhibition.