Hi everyone, my name is Robert Pool.
I've been invited today to talk about the rationale behind the color that I chose of the
NASA Apollo 11 landing 50th Anniversary tartan.
But before I do that, I'd like to go back to when I first became
interested in space travel and moon landings.
I was five years old when I saw my first movie that [inaudible] in Glasgow.
And over the years I've thought about it many times but there's no way that I'd ever
remember what it was called.
But what I remember for sure was the space ship taking off, landing on the moon, the
astronauts walking on the moon, the moon under attack, and also like a dog,
and couple of cats, couple of monkeys.
That's really about it.
But seeing that, in fact, started me down the road of really having a love for science
fiction as well as science fact.
A short time ago I decided I'd trying to track this movie down using Google Search.
The initial search proved totally fruitless.
I can assure you that putting in moon landings and monkeys and cats and dogs
will get you absolutely nowhere.
So I decided to work on what I definitely knew.
I knew that the film was before 1962, and the reason that I know was my father died in
1962 after a heart operation, so I knew it had to be before that either 1961 or 60.
So I looked through all the science fiction movies for 1961 and nothing came
up that came close to it.
Then I moved to 1960 and believe it or not, I actually found the movie that
I had seen all those years ago.
It was called 12 to the moon, and it was two international astronauts on the
first manned moon landing and walk.
And the thing that amazed me more than anything was that the spaceship was actually
called the lunar eagle one.
And the film was produced by Columbia pictures.
So I just couldn't believe what a coincidence that is.
Of course nine years later I saw the real thing you know when Neil Armstrong, Edwin
Aldrin, and Michael Collins set off for the moon on the Apollo 11 mission.
Well the eagle landed on the moon and all for mankind took those first steps when Neil
Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael you know orbited the moon on the Columbia, and to
this day, I can still say it's most exciting [inaudible] I've ever scene.
And I guess the only thing that could match would need to be to see a woman walk on Mars.
I mean I'd love to be at that after party when that happened.
I'm getting on a wee bit in age, but I'm quite sure my daughters Shanelle, Danielle and
Hazel, and my granddaughters Holly and Bonnie and grandson Morgan,
they'll be around to see and appreciate it.
Let me tell you, it's something you will never forget.
I mean anybody who's around at time will know the feeling you got when
you first saw someone walk on the moon.
There's just no way to describe it.
Well, like I say, it'll all come again, you know like I said here,
when a woman walks on Mars.
That'll be noted.
I mean, now back to the tartan.
Excuse me.
The tartan should tell its own unique story by the color combination
and thread count it uses.
And the six colors used on this particular tartan were brown, black,
white, blue, red, and grey.
The red, white, and blue represent NASA's insignia and United States of America flag.
While, brown, black, and white have equal thread counts of six which represent part of
NASA's core values of inclusion, diversity, and equality for all those that work and
represent NASA and every aspect of their business.
Six is also representative of a population in the six continent combined model of Africa,
Asia, Antarctica, Australia & Oceania, the Americas and Europe.
And finally we have the 50 threads of grey, which of course represent the fifty years
since humans first landed and took those first steps on the moon.
I mean it's really about as simple as that.
I mean there's nothing complex in the overall design.
NASA made it really that easy for me to make those choices.
I hope that you guys like them.
So that really just covers the rationale behind it.
I'd like to actually thank Jim Green [inaudible], Katrina Gibbs [inaudible], and Dave Williams for making
this all possible.
I'd also like to thank Patricia [inaudible] of the Scottish Register of Tartans for all the
technical help over the years thanks man.
Sadly I can't be at the venue today as I have an appointment in
Glasgow that I can't get out of.
But I'm delighted to say that my daughter Shanelle and grandchildren Morgan and Holly
will be there to present the official certificate issued by the Scottish Register of
Tartans to the NASA representatives today.
I'll now hand it back to Dr. James Green
and I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening and the rest of the year
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing and moon walk.
Thanks very much [inaudible] Bye