Welcome to the World’s Biggest Space Party… EVER!
So what is Echoes of Apollo (EOA)? It’s the biggest Space Party in the World and we are celebrating the Apollo moon missions starting with the first moon landing 40 years ago on July 20th 1969.
For over 3 months we will be partnering with thousands of global events and parties to celebrate. One of the big events will be “World Moon Bounce Day”. The techno-types in our ranks like to refer to it as World EME Day officially, I expect that “Moon Bounce” will stick! By the way, EME stands for Earth-Moon-Earth transmissions. On June 27th 2009 many of the world big parabolic antennas will be “taken over” by Echoes of Apollo volunteers and pointed at the moon. In a “Jamboree of the Air” style amateur radio even, kids from around the world will be talking to each other by bouncing their transmissions of the surface of the moon. With a 2.5 second delay, they will have to wait 5 seconds to hear a reply. What makes this event spectacular is the scope of the event. Not since the Apollo missions have this many large dishes been pointing at the moon at the same time.
EOA activities require where possible for all participating events to raise money for the charity of their choice. When activities commence in late May 2009, you will be able to register your donation with a well known contribution site and we will send a certificate of thanks by email signed by our Patrons. We will be announcing some pretty important people soon. Our events, competitions and outreach programs will be concentrating on students’ education as a few of them may have missed the Apollo missions unless they repeated school for the last 30 years. We will be helping schools hold music concerts for their bands and orchestras (space themes and Apollo information read out between each piece); space and astronomy events with resources available; a science fiction writing competition; a video competition about why we should return to the moon, to name a few. Oh yeh… We will also be having a moon poetry competion.
3D photographic clubs worldwide will be projecting a special show of stereo pictures of the Apollo moon landings so that you can see it like you were there too. Parties, trivia nights and events with a space theme will raise money for their charity. It is pretty endless. We are even asking people to think up their own charity event and invite Event Organisers to contact us to see how they can join in the fun.
The EOA philosophy embraces a wide range of ideals and objectives. These include:
- Involve as many original support staff from the Apollo 11 mission, especially those from outside of the USA.
- Celebrate the achievements and the success of the Apollo missions.
- Green initiatives and projects underpinned by green requirements where feasible and practical.
- Access for people with disabilities to both on-line and individual activities as a priority.
- “Not for Profit” mode of operation. All funds left over at the end of the event will be donated to charity.
- Publicly available audited accounts available at the conclusion of the event.
- Support for Amateur Radio and its role in new technologies, education & community service.
Now that we have the rules set down, let’s enjoy the party.
