Silver linings

For every job that gets me down, I'm delighted to say there are two or three that really make my working life worthwhile.

I switched on the PC this morning to find e-mails from a technician who worked on the launch pads through the Apollo programme, and from Walt Cunningham who orbited the earth in Apollo 7.

Probably only 10 per cent of my time is spent writing for profit beyond business/corporate communications - but the enjoyment I gain from it is a great deal higher.

I'm just finishing up a piece on the early days of Apollo, and its exciting to get direct input from 'primary sources' - the people who were there and who took part. It's gratifying that they can take the time to help my research, and I hope I can do a little to keep a rather more hopeful and heroic period in our recent history (albeit set in a context of war/cold war) alive for generations for whom space exploration doesn't even chart on their radar.