45 years ago today

[milagros317]

July 20, 1969
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first two people to walk on the moon.

I watched it live on TV in my parents' house in New Jersey. I was home with a summer job between Freshman and Sophomore years of college.
If you are old enough to remember this event, where were you?

 

[Nedstacey2]

A six, soon to be seven year-old boy being raised in a rural backwater of far Upstate N.Y., with just three TV channels only one of which regularly came in clearly over the antenna. My parents had this first moon landing on it that evening, of course, and they tried to drag me out of bed to witness this greatest achievement in all of human history as it was happening, but I wasn't much interested and thus have never stopped chastising that shallow young self of mine.

But I quickly became a huge fan of the space program in subsequent years through all the future triumphs and tragedies of the Apollo program, even building my own personal space capsule--what other kids would have called just a "fort," naturally.

 

[C.A.B.]

I remember watching it as well... kinda young to really appreciate the significance of it. After all in my kid mind, what was the big deal? Dr. Smith and Cartoons were in space every day! lol. I remember the old man fiddling with the rabbit ears and stayed standing by them to make sure we didn't get snow... lord knows the transmissions were bad enough.

"...the Eagle has landed... my GOD! It really is made of green cheese!..." <--- missed opportunity for the Joke of the Century. LOL!

 

[paracarl44]

At that time I was serving my country in the USAF.

 

[SamuelKhan]

The Apollo program was NASA at their very best, and America's finest hour was Apollo 11. Humans escaped the bonds of gravity and found a way put a man on the moon and return them safely. Kennedy set a specific goal, and a few ordinary people accepted the challenge. That kind of professionalism is no longer found, sadly.

I pray we achieve this greatness again.

 

[kered]

I was twelve and stayed up for the live reports that started here about 10 pm.

 

[milagros317]

At that time I was serving my country in the USAF.

Were you on duty and not able to watch it live?

 

[tklbd]

I was 10...and we had just returned from a family vacation (the same day). But early enough in the afternoon to unpack things, and then settle down in front of the T.V., that evening, to view it.

I also recall the Challenger tragedy...at work and the "roach coach" arrived for morning break. The first thing the lady in the truck said was, something like, "Did you guys hear the Challenger blew up??!!"

Also recall the day the Columbia broke up on re-entry!! Was at "traffic school" for a very minor moving violation. (my only one, ever) The instructor announced it at lunch break!!

I followed and was very interested in the Gemini and Apollo programs, growing up. Was a bit too young to remember much of the Mercury program. I still think of Jim Lovell as one of the "greatest pilots ever"...to paraphrase a line from "All the Right Stuff". He logged more "flight time" (at that time)...aboard 2 Gemini and 2 Apollo missions, each. Only he and Gene Cernan "visited" the moon twice!! Lovell on Apollo 8 (lunar orbital flight) and the ill fated Apollo 13. (And of course, they couldn't land) Cernan on Apollo 10 (piloted the LM to within 12 miles of the Lunar surface) and Apollo 17 (the last of the Lunar landings).

OK..I guess I rambled enough..and got a bit off topic. LOL!!! But those are my memories of NASA's "Pre-Skylab and Shuttle" programs!!!

 

[paracarl44]

At that time I was serving my country in the USAF.

Were you on duty and not able to watch it live?

^I was stationed in Hawaii and if I did not see the original broadcast I saw the continuing coverage and the replays.^

 

[milagros317]

^I was stationed in Hawaii and if I did not see the original broadcast I saw the continuing coverage and the replays.^

Hawaii is not a bad posting. Glad you remember the occasion. 😀

 

[PiedPiper]

I was shooting a 35 mm photo of the live TV transmission,.. to be used in the next morning's newspaper in my hometown.

 

[Bugman]

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

A day I will never forget. The family spent most of that hot summer Sunday glued to the TV, eager for any scrap of news. After dinner we crossed the street to watch the landing with the Burton's, and not long after those famous words were spoken fireworks began streaking across the sky. The landing gave America something to rally around at a time when it was badly needed, in light of the turbulence that in many ways defined the 60s.

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[milagros317]

I was shooting a 35 mm photo of the live TV transmission,.. to be used in the next morning's newspaper in my hometown.

Yes, a reminder of the relatively primitive technology available back in 1969. You had to take a photo of the cathode ray television tube during the broadcast.

 

[Bohemianne]

I wasn't born yet.


(Sometimes, I think, maybe I was born yesterday) 😛

 

[C.A.B.]

I was shooting a 35 mm photo of the live TV transmission,.. to be used in the next morning's newspaper in my hometown.

Yes, a reminder of the relatively primitive technology available back in 1969. You had to take a photo of the cathode ray television tube during the broadcast.

huh.. that would be tough to do without getting scan lines... was it a longer exposure?

 

[rdhd]

Yeh photographing a TV screen was (still is) tough - I tried a few times back in the day. At the time of Apollo 11 I was 12 - I remember watching the first step out, think I saw the landing too. I was a space geek then; hell, still am. And to think where we were supposed to be by now...(remember the CBS show on Sunday nights, "the 21st century", with good ol' Walter Cronkite?).

 

[SamuelKhan]

Ever see an old tv broadcast being filmed? Not pretty.

anyways, I was three and remember my dad showing me where the moon was while driving in our 1964 Ford Galaxy sedan during a subsequent mission.

 

[kopfhorer]

Yeh photographing a TV screen was (still is) tough - I tried a few times back in the day.

I remember Walter Cronkite giving out CBS's technical department's instructions for anyone trying to photograph their TV screens during the moon mission. No VCRs until 1974 or so when Sony brought out the Betamax.

I remember Walter Cronkite gi At the time of Apollo 11 I was 12 - I remember watching the first step out, think I saw the landing too. I was a space geek then; hell, still am. And to think where we were supposed to be by now...(remember the CBS show on Sunday nights, "the 21st century", with good ol' Walter Cronkite?).

I remember that show. Never missed it if I could help it. I remember the episode about genetic engineering. I thought that would occur in the distant future, not a mere two decades after that show aired!

Anyway, in 1969 I was in high school. On July 20th, my siblings and I were glued to the little black-and-white TV in the den of my folks' house. "That's one small step for man..."