He paid close attention when the Russian Sputnik became the first satellite in space in 1957. And he watched as Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961.

He heard US President John F. Kennedy's "We choose to go to the moon" speech in 1962, which included those famous words: "This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon on July 21, 1969. The 50th anniversary of what many consider to be humanity's greatest achievement is less than three weeks away.

Col, who is president of the Astronomical Society of the Hunter, watched the event "on very poor quality black and white television".

"It was a precious moment for me," said Col, of Kurri Kurri.

At the time, Col was living with his young family at Abermain

"Kim was 8, Kathleen 6, Kerri was just 4. I tried to get them to watch, but it was too dreary for them," he said.

As Col watched the broadcast along with 600 million others around the world, he heard a knock at the door. It was his father, Jim Maybury.

The broadcast had been dragging on, as the audience waited for the first step on the lunar surface.

Just as Col's dad sat down, the image changed to ghostly footage of Armstrong on a ladder, descending from the lunar module.

The footage may have been grainy, but Armstrong's words were clear: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

The TV picture soon improved, as the Parkes dish did its thing.

"Suddenly it struck me just how massive an event it was. I looked at my father and said, 'Dad do you realise you were born before the Wright brothers first flew a powered aircraft at Kitty Hawk in December 1903?'."

His dad was born in November 1902.

"Now at age 67, he was seeing men on the moon," Col said.

"The first flight was 120 feet long [37 metres] and here were men on the moon after a flight from Earth that covered 380,000 kilometres. On that point alone, the history of the occasion we had witnessed was outstanding."

Col describes the moment as the "first human to step onto another planet", saying the Earth and moon were often referred to as a twin planetary system.

He said Armstrong left on the moon a small piece of the wing of the Wright's first aircraft and a piece of wood from the propeller.

Col has read the reports of all three astronauts involved in the first moon landing - Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

"The main impression was that these brave men did not expect to safely return but went anyway. So much could go wrong," Col said.

By landing on the moon, the United States effectively won the space race that began with Sputnik's launch in 1957.

Col's friend, lunar photographer Professor Ricardo Jose Vaz Tolentino, will be emailing a special 50th anniversary edition of his lunar photographs and information. Anyone can ask to be on his mailing list and he'll answer any questions - vaztolentino@gmail.com.

Newcastle champion Kurt Fearnley certainly had a good laugh when a news organisation mistook him for Dylan Alcott, who won a Logie for most popular new talent.

Kurt tweeted: "If Dylan Alcott wins a Logie tonight, I'm claiming that shit forever! I mean that. I am 100 per cent committing to this. I will die in a ditch defending the night that I claimed the Logie for my people! Thank you @DylanAlcott, enjoy tonight. Because I'm claiming it come sunrise!"

Apparently Dylan didn't think he'd win because he couldn't see a ramp at the stage for his wheelchair.

"No ramp & someone ends up with a Logie in their colon ... #TruthBomb," Fearnley tweeted.

Turned out that Dylan was able to access the stage from the rear. Phew!