Space expert and TV presenter Bruno Stanek has died

Stanek achieved great fame when, aged just 25, he presented the first moon landing of the Apollo 11 mission as an expert on Swiss television on July 21, 1969. Around one million viewers watched the special broadcast in the early hours of the morning.

Stanek remained on television as a space expert. In 1975/76, he created his own 16-part television series entitled "News from Space" and commented on the first space shuttle missions in the early 1980s.

One special feature was when he had all the Apollo 13 astronauts as guests on his show in the Swiss parliament studio after they returned from their failed moon mission. He commented on the launches of the last two Apollo moon missions and all four launches of Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier for Swiss television live from Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida, and later the mathematician expanded his programming activities to include software for the administration of medical practices and for emergency service planning as medical software.

Bruno Stanek had lived in Arth in the canton of Schwyz since 1980. He is survived by his wife and two sons.