Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1141804
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 JULY 2019 CULTURE ENVIRONMENT Wherever you are in Malta, you're probably never more than 50 metres from the nearest sparrow, perched some- where preening or chattering. That would be the Spanish sparrow, the għasfur tal-bejt we're all familiar with. But there's another, less known sparrow among our resident birds, and that's the tree sparrow (M. ġaħġaħ). It looks a lot like the Spanish sparrow but a closer look will reveal a distinctive black patch on its white cheek. It's also a bit smaller and has this ji-jick call (hence the funny Maltese name). The tree sparrow is much less common or wide- spread than its anywhere-goes cousin, and BirdLife sur- veys indicate that this bird has, in fact, got scarcer in re- cent years. Despite their name, tree sparrows are not really attracted to trees, they are farmland birds and generally nest in cracks in old rural buildings or quiet village out- skirts. Text: Victor Falzon Photo: Aron Tanti 669. TREE SPARROW Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 563: Book your seat at: www.foemalta.org/film IT was one step for man but a giant leap for mankind. Those were the words of Neil Armstrong as he was stepping for the very first time on the moon. Apollo 11 was a space mission that landed two men on the moon for the first time. Apollo 11 was a target set by President J.F. Kennedy which was to send a crewed mission to land on the moon and return to Earth. The mission kicked off on 15 July 1969 as the Apollo Saturn V spacecraft, carrying Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin and Michael Collins launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Going to the moon consisted of several stages where the Saturn V had to disengage multiple times one stage at a time until all was left was the Command Service Module which was car- rying the three astronauts and the Lunar Mod- ule nicknamed 'Eagle'. This whole launch process took three and a half hours and then it took Apollo three days to coast through space until it reached its target and was pulled into orbit by the moon's gravity. At this point, the crew split up. Armstrong and Aldrin transferred themselves into Eagle, the lunar module and gradually descended into towards the surface. Meanwhile, Collins remained in the Com- mand Module called Columbia and contin- ued to circle the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin made a historic moment happen by landing the lunar module on the moon and that is where the famous catchphrase 'The Eagle has landed' was born. All of this was broadcast live on television and hundreds of millions watched as Neil Arm- strong first stepped on the moon immortalising the other popular phrase 'it's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'. The mission carried a lot more than just land- ing the first man on the lunar surface. The crew had to do some scientific exploration using the lunar module which they successfully landed on the moon. Apart from this, Armstrong and his crew had to deploy a television camera to transmit sig- nals to Earth; deploy a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a laser ranging reflector. Obviously, they had to record all the moments of the mission for us all to appreciate, especially now 50 years later. Armstrong and Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours and 36 minutes on the moon's surface whilst Collins onboard Columbia was on his 25th revolution around the moon when they fired Eagle back towards the command service module, leaving the landing gear behind. It was on Columbia's 27th revolution that the lunar module docked once again with the command service module. All three astronauts settled in the command service module whilst they jettisoned towards a lunar orbit. At this point, the lunar module was no longer needed, leaving only the three astronauts on board Columbia to begin the two-and-a-half- day journey back home which is called the trans-Earth injection. Once the spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmos- phere, it was seen from Earth, blazing in the skies at a speed of more than 40,000 Km per hour. The landing took place on 24 July 1969 at 12.50pm, in the Pacific Ocean where the three astronauts parachuted down together with rock samples collected from the surface of the moon, and were recovered by the ship named USS Hornet. In all the Apollo 11 mission took 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds, moments which will forever remain in human history. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary since the Moon Landing, the public is invited to visit Esplora, Malta's Interactive Science centre in Kalkara, on 20 and 21 July where visitors will be able to build and launch their own rocket or participate in a space quest to successfully complete a mission. More information is available at http:// esplora.org.mt/moon-landing/ or on face- book Esplora Interactive Science Centre @ esploramalta https://www.facebook.com/ events/2308323116087885/ Apollo 11 Human history lives on its 50th year commemoration