Apollo 11 Memories

[job1207]

http://www.nytimes.com//interactive/200 ... ve.html?hp

The NY Times is going all out here. They have what is clearly the best coverage. It includes a series of videos that bring back everything we felt as we watched the greatest adventure in human history.

 

[webtaz99]

I turned 4 years old one day before the first landing. I have extremely hazy memories of seeing it on our black and white TV, but I didn't understand what was going on.

 

[LunarGoosey]

I was 11 and firmly planted in front of our color console TV with my family in our den. The images were so grainy but I kept thinking how unbelievable it was to be watching something happening on the moon. I knew I would never forget it! I still get goosey bumps when I see footage of the landing and Armstrong taking that historic step. It fueled my interest in science and astronomy. If you think about the lack of technology, you get a better understanding of the focus & drive it took to get us there. How many today know what a slide rule is....much less how to use one. As for me, Monday evening I will be on my deck with my telescope set up and (as Tom Hanks said in Apollo 13) "...look up at the Moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?"

 

[MeteorWayne]

Exactly 40 years ago this minute, the mighty Saturn V with Apollo 11 perched atop began the journey that for the first time would have men from earth walk on the Moon.

The combined vehicles stood 363 feet tall, weighing 6.7 million pounds.

The first stage, using RP-1 and LOX burned for 2 1/2 minutes, the second with LH2 and LOX for 6 minutes, and the third, also with LH2 and LOX 2 1/2 minutes to orbit, and 6 minutes for TLI (Trans Lunar Injection.

We came in peace for all mankind.

 

[onesmallstep]

I too was 11 years old at the time, I've noticed there are quite a few posters in this thread who were also around eleven. Don't know if there is any significance to that or not, perhaps that is an age when we are most impressionable, because like the others the memory of A11 is something that has stuck with me all my life.

I was wondering if anyone remembered the controversy and/or uncertainty at the time as to whether or not the LM would sink maybe a mile or more into the lunar dust. In years prior to the launch there were programs with so-called experts that predicted the lunar dust may be a mile or more deep in places and there was a good chance any landing attempt could fail because it would sink into the dust and never be heard from again.

I don't recall Cronkite mentioning this possibility during the event, but in my house we were all on the edge of our seat having remembered those dire predictions from other shows. Then the delay came between when the LM should have landed and the actual landing due to Armstrong taking over the controls. Even Cronkite and Schirra were stumbling over themselves, not sure what was going on. My Dad actually shouted, "they've sunk into the dust", and for a few seconds our hearts were in our throat. Then came the most marvelous words I've ever heard spoken, "Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed".

Imagine, Tranquility Base...from that day on the moon was transformed from the stuff of dreams, mysticism, or some nebulous far-away idea that could never be seen up close, it became a real place....A place I was convinced at the time I would visit some day, but alas, forty years later I'm still waiting for my chance.

 

[MeteorWayne]

How ironic that Walter Cronkite has passed away during this 40th anniversery celebration of man's first steps on the Moon. In my mind, the two, the event, and the man are forever linked.

 

[spacecadet9]

I was 9 years old and already an avid follower of the space program. I watched any launch I could on TV and I vividly remember getting the GI Joe space set one Christmas. It had GI Joe in a silver space suit and 1 man space capsule you could put him in. It came with a 45 RPM record of Alan Sheppard's first space flight I think it was the whole thing 15 minutes.
But I digress.
I was on Vacation on Lake Winnepesaukee in N.H. so we had a small 12 inch TV with 1 channel an bad reception, but that's OK the pictures from the Moon really weren't that good anyway. I remember coming in from the beach to be sure I saw the landing and then waiting FOREVER to see the Moonwalk. We actually were relieved that they didn't sink in to the dust. I played cards with the grown ups to pass the time while we listed for updates on when they were going to get out and walk. It was pretty far past my bedtime when they finally did and I was dozing on the couch determined to see every second. I loved watching Walter Cronkhite andJules Bergman doing the rinky-dink simulations, I ate it all up. I was determined to grow up to be an Astronaut and wantedto be the first one on Mars, Back then it seeemed plausible. I was also enraptured by 2001 A Sapce Odyssey and it's realistic vision of what the near term space program would be. By the way I was also a Trekkie and would sneak into my Grandmother's room when I was supposed to be in bed to watch the original series (NOT Reruns). (what would that make me then? 7? Yikes! :shock: ....and I still watch them.

I also remember being pissed off that they were running soaps on TV when Apollo 13 was supposedto be doing a broadcast. It was uncanny how much I remebered first hand from the Apollo 13 events when i saw the re-creation in the movie.

 

[docrabbits]

It was one of the most magical moments of my childhood. I was 11 years old, attending a girl's camp in Northern Indiana. Somehow they scrounged up a fairly large TV, and allowed all 150 girls to bring their pillows and blankets to the lodge for a late night. No one was tempted to go to sleep. When the big moment came, there was none of the usual chatter between the girls-- it was eerily quiet. Every pair of eyes was focused on that television set as we all watched Neil Armstrong in awe and wonder in the darkened room. There were gasps rather than cheers as he climbed down the ladder and took his first steps. I think we could have watched all night. When it was time to go back to our cabins for the rest of the night, I remember pausing alone on the pathway, gazing up at the moon in amazement-- there were tears in my eyes. I will never forget it.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Very nice memory, thanx and welcome to Space.com!!

 

[Busterb1959]

I was 10 when I saw them land. What I am realizing now is, with a little luck, I might be one of the few people on earth who will witness a second series of landings on the moon. That will be an emotional day for all of us.

 

[robb1068]

I've been reliably informed that I was parked in front of the television with my parents. Unfortunately, I was only nine months old at the time, so my first real Apollo memory is Deke shaking hands with the Soviets on the Apollo-Soyuz mission.

 

[Rick1958]

I was nearly 11 and I was into the space program. My parents decided to plan a once in a lifetime trip to Florida from our home in Indiana. At 9:32 am July 16, 1969, I was standing on the beach in Florida watching the Apollo 11 liftoff. On July 20, 1969 I was back home watching the lunar landing on our new Zenith color TV. That was a great Summer!

 

[ProfessorJim]

I remember watching the landing on our living room T.V. My mother was so excited and my dad just stared fought back tears when Neil Armstrong made his famous Tranquility Base announcement. We had been at the Cape on the 16th to see the launch and now they were actually on the Moon. I remember getting to stay up late that night to see the actual first step. It was a wonderful thing growing up in Central Florida in the 60's - we really felt we were part of the action.

 

[RocketKen]

I was almost 14, glued to the TV all that day. We were living in North Texas then. It was getting pretty late in the evening by the time Neil and Buzz were ready to step out of the LEM, but Mom and Dad had no problem whatsoever with allowing us kids to stay up past the normal bedtime.
This weekend, I was going on and on about the 40th Anniversary of the first Moon Landing to my new bride. She was not quite yet conceived on July 20, 1969, and has less of a sense of the importance of this history.. She asked me "What is the big deal? That was 40 years ago, haven't we done even cooler things in space since then?" My answer, of course, was "NO!, We've only gone round and round the planet since then! That first Moon Landing was the coolest thing EVER, before or since!"
I'm delighted that Neil, Buzz, and Mike are all still with us and appear healthy. Buzz is my personal hero, still out there pushing his causes, punching out that in-his-face moon-landing-hoax "reporter", and rapping with Snoop Dog.

RocketKen, working in a very space-related job in Mojave, CA, 40 years later

 

[gary4426]

I was only 6 but for some reason, i used to spend my time drawing pictures of big red & white parachutes with grey 'capsules' swinging beneath. Loads & loads of splash down scenes! It was the most magical thing I'd ever seen.
My brother was into football but for me, it was visors, oxygen/ life support systems & anything covered in tin foil.

I remember watching the first steps onto the Moon at my Grandparents house, so we must've been visiting. It was daylight UK so was obviously a repeat. At the time they were living in a tower block & on leaving them, to get out of the building I remember walking along dimly lit corridors, getting into a lift (elevator), feeling a slight change of gravity & noted the floor lights flashing & changing within the lift. For a minute or two - I WAS an Astronaut!

 

[Vodka_Resupply_Mission]

Great to read all these blasts from the past.

At age 7, I remember being the only sober person in the room. My older brother had a plastic model of the Apollo ship, complete with removable LEM, made by a company called "Ravell" I think. Couldn't wait for him to build it so I could play with (bust) it.

We also had this cheesy locally produced TV show called "Rocketship 7" in which they would start every show with a countdown and footage of an Apollo liftoff, then on to cheap puppets and a guy in a robot suit and cartoon reruns.

Ah, the Glory Days...

 

[jim48]

These are some terrific posts! Y'all are doing great. Keep 'em coming!!!

 

[Chryseplanatia]

Been away for awhile; lots of activities around this anniversary. First, a couple of things: the APollo models were built by Revell, and some are still for sale on places like Ebay. They are re-releases, at much higher prices, but you can reclaim that feeling of youth as the glue overwhelms your senses and you try to make the little plastic pieces fit....

Had the good fortune to book a couple of last-minute talks at Griffith Observatory in LA (Thanks, Dr. Danley!). Well-attended with enthusiastic crowds. As one might expect, crowd was pretty evenly split between those who remembered and those who were not alive in 1969. The talk was a pretty easy sell, because, though 35 minutes in length each (I did 2x), I spoke for about 10 and the rest was video form the mission of Ap 11.

The hard part was keeping it together when they finally landed the LM. I'm looking at this crowd, and they are interested, but (mostly) emotionally unaffected. I, on the other hand, have a lump in my throat the size of the CM. It was good.

Enjoyed the Sunday night doc on Cronkite greatly. Clearly it was in preparation well before this; you don't get Bill CLinton and Obama down to the studio in an afternoon! Very well produced. I remembered every moment of Uncle Walter and Apollo (who else would you watch??), but had forgotten his broadcast decrying the US adventure in Vietnam. Quite a different time.

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. Let's get back out to the moon!

 

[jim48]

Been away for awhile; lots of activities around this anniversary. First, a couple of things: the APollo models were built by Revell, and some are still for sale on places like Ebay. They are re-releases, at much higher prices, but you can reclaim that feeling of youth as the glue overwhelms your senses and you try to make the little plastic pieces fit....

Had the good fortune to book a couple of last-minute talks at Griffith Observatory in LA (Thanks, Dr. Danley!). Well-attended with enthusiastic crowds. As one might expect, crowd was pretty evenly split between those who remembered and those who were not alive in 1969. The talk was a pretty easy sell, because, though 35 minutes in length each (I did 2x), I spoke for about 10 and the rest was video form the mission of Ap 11.

The hard part was keeping it together when they finally landed the LM. I'm looking at this crowd, and they are interested, but (mostly) emotionally unaffected. I, on the other hand, have a lump in my throat the size of the CM. It was good.

Enjoyed the Sunday night doc on Cronkite greatly. Clearly it was in preparation well before this; you don't get Bill CLinton and Obama down to the studio in an afternoon! Very well produced. I remembered every moment of Uncle Walter and Apollo (who else would you watch??), but had forgotten his broadcast decrying the US adventure in Vietnam. Quite a different time.

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. Let's get back out to the moon!

Welcome back. In my home NBC News ruled, with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Frank McGee covered the space shots. It was a different time, and I remember those model kits! Curious that Uncle Walter passed almost on the eve of the moon landing anniversary. He really, really, really wanted to go into space, and he finally got his wish!

 

[Vodka_Resupply_Mission]

This sounds kind of sappy but what the hell, I'll share it:

My brother-in-law has these two boy kids, barely teens, and when I blather on about the Apollo missions in The Days of Old, they stare at me with open mouths, they listen so intently when I tell them that guys actually walked around up there, smacked golf balls and drove dune buggies, piolted moonships over boulder fields to find safe landing sites, thwarted disaster and became heroes, and I tell them about the astronauts and the spacecraft and they so dig it. So that encourages me. These snot-nosed little punks will be walking on Mars some day.

I can't plot an orbit or design a Saturn V, but it's nice to think I might inspire a kid to do something like that. Let's go back to Luna and then go to Mars. That's where I'm bringing the vodka, because not everything is for the kids.

 

[2001Kubrick]

What a great idea for a thread topic.

I was just a twinkle in my mother's eye during the Apollo missions. Since I have no rememborance Apollo 11, I will just have to be insanely jealous of you all and your memories. What a great time to have been alive. There has not been a single man on the moon in my lifetime (I'm in my 20s). Regardless, I've had a love affair with NASA and the space program my entire life.

My earliest memory of NASA was the Challenger launch and subsequent disaster. I was in kindergarten at the time and we had a television set in the classroom. I remember the teacher telling us beforehand that Christa McAuliffe was to be the first schoolteacher in space.

Shortly after the launch, a few classmates and I were talking and giggling. We noticed the teacher was visibly upset and couldn't understand why. It wasn't until I got home when my parents explained to me what happened. I was obviously too young (age 6) to really grasp the gravity of the situation. I remember that this tragedy sparked my interest in space. Unfortunately, I would have to wait a long 32 months to see the next Shuttle launch.

From that moment in 1986, I was hooked on the space program. Hopefully, we will be back to the moon soon and have humans setting foot on the Martian surface in my lifetime.

I feel bad for the current generation of kids that will be growing up without ANY shuttle missions for a few years and no real plans to land on the moon anytime soon.

 

[GalaxyFunGirl]

Horray..!!!!...I cut every article out of the newspaper about the Apollo mission.....its such a fun thing to read about...I must have about 30-40 articles on it......

 

[jim48]

This sounds kind of sappy but what the hell, I'll share it:

My brother-in-law has these two boy kids, barely teens, and when I blather on about the Apollo missions in The Days of Old, they stare at me with open mouths, they listen so intently when I tell them that guys actually walked around up there, smacked golf balls and drove dune buggies, piolted moonships over boulder fields to find safe landing sites, thwarted disaster and became heroes, and I tell them about the astronauts and the spacecraft and they so dig it. So that encourages me. These snot-nosed little punks will be walking on Mars some day.

I can't plot an orbit or design a Saturn V, but it's nice to think I might inspire a kid to do something like that. Let's go back to Luna and then go to Mars. That's where I'm bringing the vodka, because not everything is for the kids.

Amen. I love telling the story of our going to the moon to the youngsters! A variety of reactions, to be sure! I am so thankful that I was around back then. We need to give the kids something to shoot for today... literally. By all means let us get out there and get with the kids and aim them for the stars!!!

 

[infra]

I saw the launch, and sat on my girlfriends front porch with her and stared at the moon while they were up there. I was 19 yrs old. I had seen almost all the launches Mercury, Gemini and Apollo but that one was special. It was the one our parents had worked so hard for. It was the one that fulfilled the promise. Quiet little central Florida (pre-Disney) was a zoo! Tens of thousands of people were here to see the launch. Since the Apollo I fire, thousands of Cape workers and their families quietly held their breath until the splash down.

 

[jonto2012]

I saw the launch, and sat on my girlfriends front porch with her and stared at the moon while they were up there. I was 19 yrs old. I had seen almost all the launches Mercury, Gemini and Apollo but that one was special. It was the one our parents had worked so hard for. It was the one that fulfilled the promise. Quiet little central Florida (pre-Disney) was a zoo! Tens of thousands of people were here to see the launch. Since the Apollo I fire, thousands of Cape workers and their families quietly held their breath until the splash down.

How cool, Infra. So glad this board is continuing, especially with such nice posts as yours. If you're still around, I wonder where was that front porch at? So both your parents worked at the Cape, eh. What a privilege to be right there. Thanks. I just joined up here as well and am glad to see the great moon articles and Apollo flashbacks.