The Sky at Night - 1960

[Osprey]

For those reading from the UK, BBC iPlayer has an archive copy of an episode of The Sky at Night available to view from 1960. To programme's feature is on new Lunar photos of the dark side of the Moon taken by Russian satellites, and discussion of theories relating to the Lunar surface. To put this programme into perspective, this TV show episode was made in an era of space exploration that was still pre-Gagarin. While the sticky tape idea mentioned is a bit far-fetched, it's great to be reminded just how clever scientists and astronomers were back then, particularly as Patrick Moore got his prediction regarding the surface texture of the light areas spot on, despite the available data at the time.

The Sky at Night - 1960

[Uncle Mort]

Great find. The Sky at Night has been one of my favourite programmes for many years. although the quality has dropped of late and I find Dr Maggie Aderin-Pococks breathless method of presentation a bit distracting.

I like the opening remark on the clip. "Well as you've heard by now there's been another unsuccessful American moon shot" (my emphasis)

[Osprey]

"Well as you've heard by now there's been another unsuccessful American moon shot"

Goes to show just how far behind the US had to come from to catch up by the end of the 60s, though I'd put that down to the death of Korolev rather than US engineering superiority. It's a testament to his brilliance that ROSCOS still launch cosmonauts using a rocket developed from his designs (Soyuz).

Patrick Moore is dearly missed for Sky at Night. I'd prefer if it were just Chris Lintodt, and possible also Jim Al-Khalili.

[Uncle Mort]

The Sky at Night was Patrick Moore, no other presenter comes close.