Disappointed Hong Kong missed a live moon transmission from Apollo 12 in 1969

The event drew the largest viewing audience in the city yet, but the sound was indistinct, the screen motionless: nothing happened

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Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr stands with the US flag on the lunar surface during the Apollo 12 mission, in 1969. Photo: Nasa/Handout

Published: 2:51pm, 19 Nov 2024Updated: 5:27pm, 19 Nov 2024

“Hongkong may be able to see the Apollo 12 astronauts in action ‘live’ from the moon in November on television direct from the United States through the satellite station in Stanley,” reported the South China Morning Post on July 24, 1969. “The station is scheduled to open in September. The project leader of the station, Mr H. Madigan, gave the assurance yesterday that the earth station would be fully operational by November.”

By November 8, the Post had confirmed that “as a result of a joint venture between HK-TVB and RTV, with the cooperation of four local television sponsors, Hongkong television viewers will witness ‘live’ on any one of the four television channels, the first direct transmission from the Apollo 12 programme. As this is the first television use of the Hongkong satellite earth station, the two television companies have agreed to cooperate in making this prestige event simultaneously available to all television viewers.”

On November 22, the Post’s Peter Gynt reflected on the big event, writing that on November 19, 1969, “the largest viewing audience Hongkong has yet known, assembled before their sets as seven o’clock, when the first telecast from the moon, as far as Hongkong was concerned, approached”.

“The hour was marked by frustration and disappointment as the picture, almost a still, showed a room at the Houston Space Centre where tense technologists crouched before recording dials, motionless. To add to the frustration, the sound was indistinct, so that all one heard was crackle interrupted by newspeak jargon of the electronics age.

Apollo 12 pilot Alan L. Bean climbs down the ladder of the Intrepid to set foot on the moon and join his fellow space traveller, Charles “Pete” Conrad, in the US second exploration of the moon. Photo: AP

“So in Hongkong, 8pm was reached, and nothing had happened. One almost gave a cheer as Michael Kay, in the Hongkong studio, announced that the telecast would be extended by 20 minutes. Ten minutes passed, but nothing happened, and the whole show was packed in.

“One reads that in other communities, the television coverage extended over hours. On that account, it seems a pity that Hongkong is always at the poor man’s end of these historic telecasts.”