Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon are remembered as arguably the greatest achievement of humanity. Saturday the 20th of July will mark 50 years to the day when a combination of immense investment and technological innovation allowed humans to walk on another planet for the first time. So later today Cisco will be making its most cutting edge Webex Meetings technology available to connect the globe to unite the teams who made this possible. NASA are an existing Cisco Webex customer and organisers of an anniversary gala that will be taking place in Florida tonight will be leveraging the Cisco technology to connect Apollo team members around the world.
Primarily the team of three astronauts; Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins, come to mind when we think back to Apollo 11 but in reality the achievement was only made possible by a mammoth effort and the involvement of around 400,000 people back down on Earth. Three global locations were key to the mission’s success; the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center, Image and Mission Trackers in Australia, and the recovery team aboard the USS Hornet in San Francisco Bay.
Cisco and Buzz Aldrin Family Foundation will use Webex to connect the three critical locations so that personnel from each team can reconnect, reminisce and reflect on the teamwork that got man on the moon. UC Today spoke to Aruna Ravichandran, Cisco’s Vice President of Marketing for Collaboration, to find out more.
“We decided to partner with the Buzz Aldrin Family Foundation to bring together all of the people who were a part of this huge moment in history.”
The Kennedy Space Center will host The Apollo 50th Gala later on tonight to pay homage to the incredible feat that Apollo 11 represented. The launch took place from the site 50 years ago at 13:32 UTC. More than 500 guests will be in attendance including Apollo 11’s Command Module Pilot, Mike Collins, who orbited the moon in the command module Colombia, while Aldrin and Armstrong took the giant leap for mankind onto the moon’s surface.
An Astronaut panel will take place during the evening so that members of each team can discuss and recall the different phases of the mission. This may well be the first time that members from each team have all been connected at any one time.
“”We feel very humble that we could partner with the Foundation and help them make this type of reunion possible. It’s a great example of how with teamwork you can achieve anything.”
Apollo 11 relied on the historic event being broadcast and then relayed to Earth and this required radio telescopes across the globe. One of these telescopes near Canberra in Australia was the first to receive and then relay the historic TV images of astronaut Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. Some of the Australian crew responsible for tracking the mission’s progress and ensuring the footage was seen globally were; John Saxon, Mike Dinn and Hamish Lindsay. The three will appear virtually at the gala using Webex Meetings technology.
Finally the vital team who ensured the astronauts were safely recovered after their return to Earth will also be using Webex to join the evenings celebrations at the gala. The USS Hornet was stationed in San Francisco Bay to facilitate the recovery operation and Larry Silva, Sergeant Joe Holt and John McLachlan, from the Underwater Demolition Team, will all appear at the gala via Webex.
“At Webex we are extremely passionate about teamwork and this is clearly an amazing example of teamwork, against all odds, making the impossible possible.”
The Lunar landing represented the culmination of huge technological innovation and many of the tech developments we have witnessed since then draw some inspiration from systems used during the Apollo missions. Cisco, who always aims to be at the cutting edge of technology, appreciate this and recognize the significance of this huge landmark.
“Think about the technological advancements we have made since Apollo 11 and now think about what we can do in the future.”
“Collaboration tools like Webex can empower and connect anyone whether they are on Earth now, or maybe in the future on the moon!”
Cisco will also be using Webex to ensure that you can join the fun too. You can watch the reunion live here starting tomorrow at 02:00am UK time.
