With the recent successful launch of an privately made rocket sparking renewed interest in space exploration, now is a perfect time take a look at the history of the space race in the Morongo Basin. Reporter Cassidy Zimarik joins us for this “Historical Highlight,” sparked from an article in a Morongo Basin Historical Society newsletter …
It is November of 1968. In the race to put man on the moon, NASA found Landers, California to be a great training ground. While the moon is 250,000 miles away, a NASA spokesperson at the time said, “The area around Landers is very similar to the area where we shall make our first moon landing.”
Jet Propulsion Laboratory then began conducting field tests near Landers Goat Mountain and Emerson Dry Lake.
Early each morning, the NASA caravan could be seen driving north on Old Woman Springs Road to a remote desert test site. In the caravan was an electronics van, a motor generator and auxiliary truck. Also included was a Surveyor Surface Sampler and rotary drill for core analysis of the moon’s crust.
And less than a year later on July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong announced the success to NASA. “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
When Armstrong stepped onto the moon for the first time, he uttered a phrase that has become iconic.
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
