Apollo 11 Memories

[jim48]

I started to post this thread in Missions & Launches but let's face it: The ratings are higher here! As we approach the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing--man am I getting old--I'd like to know where you were back then and how you felt about it. If you're younger and weren't around then tell us your opinion of Apollo. My brother is addicted to the Mercury program. I'm not old enough to remember that. My space flight memories start with the Gemini program in 1965 and of course Apollo was so kewel!!! And doubtful. That crappy, spidery-looking thing wrapped in gold tin foil is going to land on the moon?!! On subsequent flights I remember going outside and looking up at the moon, trying to get my mind around the fact that there were two men walking around up there. Incredible, or as author Tom Wolfe put it, "It's amazing that we were alive at the time," or something like that. I hope I live long enough to see us put people on Mars. Then I'll drink a toast to H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Ray Bradbury!

 

[jim48]

This thread is sinking fast. Pity. Where are all of the Star Trek fans?

 

[Boris_Badenov]

I'd just turned 8 years old & didn't really understand what was happening. I was quite aware of the excitement of the moment but not that the Moon Landing wasn't something that was out of the ordinary. It took a few more years of maturing before I really understood the importance of the event & many more years after that to understand how much Nixon damaged our efforts to become a Spacefaring Race.

 

[dragon04]

I started to post this thread in Missions & Launches but let's face it: The ratings are higher here! As we approach the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing--man am I getting old--I'd like to know where you were back then and how you felt about it. If you're younger and weren't around then tell us your opinion of Apollo. My brother is addicted to the Mercury program. I'm not old enough to remember that. My space flight memories start with the Gemini program in 1965 and of course Apollo was so kewel!!! And doubtful. That crappy, spidery-looking thing wrapped in gold tin foil is going to land on the moon?!! On subsequent flights I remember going outside and looking up at the moon, trying to get my mind around the fact that there were two men walking around up there. Incredible, or as author Tom Wolfe put it, "It's amazing that we were alive at the time," or something like that. I hope I live long enough to see us put people on Mars. Then I'll drink a toast to H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Ray Bradbury!

I really wasn't an avid space fan until Apollo. I was also 8. When I was younger, my mom always bought me these books that had pictures that were like postage stamps only bigger and you pasted them into the books. I had a bunch of them that were space related.

Anyways, I don't remember Gemini all that well in terms of following it. Long about Apollo 8 or so though, I was wired in.

 

[jimglenn]

I was in my early teens, and a big space fan. It was a very big event. Back then America was adored except
for the Viet Nam war. The TV images from the moon were horrible, you could not make out much.

Did you know the walls of the LM were like aluminum foil, it was easy to put your elbow thru them? Not sure but
I bet they always wore their suits in it. Did you know the floor of the LM was made of a sandwich of aluminum
and balsa wood, to save weight? Did not think so.

Did you know the LM ascent engine took 10 years of engineering to get it down to 7 moving parts? A theorem
in mechanical design is that the fewer moving parts the more reliable. Everything on that propulsion system
was duplicated. Backups for everything, except the nozzle. Gosh, what if that failed?

I wondered what would have happened if when it landed, it tilted maybe 30 or 45 degrees. Could they straighten it?

Nasa probably did not give them a jack like we have in our cars. Or a .45 Colt to use if you can't take off. :shock:

 

[crazyeddie]

I was 11 years old, and I remember watching on our black-and-white 19" TV in the living room. Naturally, the whole family was present. I was dividing my time between watching what was happing on TV and playing with some other game or toy, and I remember my mother scolding me for not giving the Apollo landing my undivided attention. "Don't you realize history is being made?!" she said. Ha! I bet I remember the moment better than she does! I was so into astronomy and space exploration they called me "Space Cadet" in high school.

 

[datalor]

This is actually one of my earliest memories. I was a todler, 3 yrs old. I remember sitting on green shag carpet in front of an orange couch (though that may be the other way around color wise, hey, I was 3) watching it on the TV. I even remember I was in footy PJs. I didn't really get what was going on but I remember being fascinated by it, and somehow knew it was very important. The memory is like looking back through a thick fog, 4 young kids in the house and a lot going on, but I do remember clearly when he stepped onto the moon, the commotion in the house stopped as we all sat around the TV. I guess that is where my space addiction started!

 

[jim48]

I was 11 years old, and I remember watching on our black-and-white 19" TV in the living room. Naturally, the whole family was present. I was dividing my time between watching what was happing on TV and playing with some other game or toy, and I remember my mother scolding me for not giving the Apollo landing my undivided attention. "Don't you realize history is being made?!" she said. Ha! I bet I remember the moment better than she does! I was so into astronomy and space exploration they called me "Space Cadet" in high school.

I was about the same age, Eddie, and we had a Zenith black-and-white console television with "Space Command" remote control! The images from the moon were crappy so for once I didn't mind not having a color set. I remember those beautiful color pictures when they first came out in Life magazine, or as beautiful as the moon could get. We weren't exactly on Altair VI!

 

[kyle_baron]

I was 11 years old, and I remember watching on our black-and-white 19" TV in the living room. Naturally, the whole family was present. I was dividing my time between watching what was happing on TV and playing with some other game or toy, and I remember my mother scolding me for not giving the Apollo landing my undivided attention. "Don't you realize history is being made?!" she said. Ha! I bet I remember the moment better than she does! I was so into astronomy and space exploration they called me "Space Cadet" in high school.

I was about the same age, Eddie, and we had a Zenith black-and-white console television with "Space Command" remote control! The images from the moon were crappy so for once I didn't mind not having a color set. I remember those beautiful color pictures when they first came out in Life magazine, or as beautiful as the moon could get. We weren't exactly on Altair VI!

I was 10 yrs old. I was also watching on a black and white Zenith console. I think that tv was a Heath Kit, that my father assembled. He was an electrical engineer. I remember the images being upside down, and fuzzy. I was disappointed, to say the least! I remember staying up late, maybe 10:00 PM.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

We had just moved North to Roswell Ga. from Decatur in early June, 1969. I had just turned 6. Dad had bought a new Magnivox colored console tv (our first color tv), to go with the new house. The whole family-I'm the youngest of six- were in the den(not the livingroom, the livingroom was the room that mom kept all her inherited antique furniture that no one was ever allowed to sit in, except adult company), and as Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the surface, I remember my dad saying, with excitement: Look Zen! Look Zen! That's a man walking on the Moon! Man is on the Moon!

I realized in my 6-year-old mind what was happening and I remember grasping the concept, yet not fully realizing the-if you'll pardon the expression- 'gravity' of the event.

Like Jim mentioned, during later missions we'd still be outside in summertime when we get those late afternoon and very early evening moons and we would think about the fact that there were two men up there. We would run in a get dad's binoculars and try to see if we could see them.(My friends and I, ie, we were still little kids.)

I'm sure that the moon-landings and many other things that were happening in the 60s and 70s inspired my life-long devotion and fascination with manned-and unmanned- space exploration.

 

[jim48]

We had just moved North to Roswell Ga. from Decatur in early June, 1969. I had just turned 6. Dad had bought a new Magnivox colored console tv (our first color tv), to go with the new house. The whole family-I'm the youngest of six- were in the den(not the livingroom, the livingroom was the room that mom kept all her inherited antique furniture that no one was ever allowed to sit in, except adult company), and as Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the surface, I remember my dad saying, with excitement: Look Zen! Look Zen! That's a man walking on the Moon! Man is on the Moon!

I realized in my 6-year-old mind what was happening and I remember grasping the concept, yet not fully realizing the-if you'll pardon the expression- 'gravity' of the event.

Like Jim mentioned, during later missions we'd still be outside in summertime when we get those late afternoon and very early evening moons and we would think about the fact that there were two men up there. We would run in a get dad's binoculars and try to see if we could see them.(My friends and I, ie, we were still little kids.)

I'm sure that the moon-landings and many other things that were happening in the 60s and 70s inspired my life-long devotion and fascination with manned-and unmanned- space exploration.

"Look Zen! Look Zen!" And my dad said "Look, Fester! Look, Fester!" :lol: Is Zen short for something, like, oh say Zenith? :lol: Is Galacticore a rather large clan in Georgia? You sure it wasn't the other Roswell? That would make more sense. Lurch says hey, Y'all!

 

[starsinmyeyes44]

I was four, almost five, and we lived on base (Ramey AFB) in Puerto Rico. We had a small black and white TV on a metal stand that could be rolled around...I remember that. My mother sat my sister and me in front of the TV and told us that this was a very important thing we were about to see. The images were blurry, but I do remember distinctly watching the astronaut doing that kind of skipping, hopping gait. My sister lost interest fairly quickly, but I remember trying to get closer so I could see better.

I also remember going to the Arecibo Observatory while we were there.

 

[jim48]

I was four, almost five, and we lived on base (Ramey AFB) in Puerto Rico. We had a small black and white TV on a metal stand that could be rolled around...I remember that. My mother sat my sister and me in front of the TV and told us that this was a very important thing we were about to see. The images were blurry, but I do remember distinctly watching the astronaut doing that kind of skipping, hopping gait. My sister lost interest fairly quickly, but I remember trying to get closer so I could see better.

I also remember going to the Arecibo Observatory while we were there.

There's a huge problem with your story: You can't be that old, as your photo clearly shows. Was Ramey AFB named after General Roger Ramey? The same General Ramey who put the lid on the Roswell crash in 1947?

 

[starsinmyeyes44]

Yes...Ramey AFB was named after him. The base is no longer there...it was one of the bases shut down in the 1980's, I think. We lived there for three years. My father was in the "Hurricane Hunters."

edit...I looked it up. Ramey was deactivated in 1973.

 

[jim48]

Yes...Ramey AFB was named after him. The base is no longer there...it was one of the bases shut down in the 1980's, I think. We lived there for three years. My father was in the "Hurricane Hunters."

As a life-long resident of hurricane prone-and-hit south Florida, I am well aware of the hurricane hunters. I'd love to fly aboard one of them into a hurricane! A few Air Force and Navy planes were lost over the years doing that work. Roger Ramey was the guy who was dumbfounded when Roswell Army Air Force Base commander William Blanchard put out a press release that announced the "capture" of a "flying disc". The story went all across the country and the Pentagon was horrified and ordered Ramey to make things right. There's a famous picture of him in his office posing with crumpled wreckage of a tin foil balloon. Within 24 hours a crashed flying saucer morphed into balloon wreckage. That story stayed secret for over 30 years. Ramey was a good soldier who got a promotion and a base named after him for killing the Roswell story.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

We had just moved North to Roswell Ga. from Decatur in early June, 1969. I had just turned 6. Dad had bought a new Magnivox colored console tv (our first color tv), to go with the new house. The whole family-I'm the youngest of six- were in the den(not the livingroom, the livingroom was the room that mom kept all her inherited antique furniture that no one was ever allowed to sit in, except adult company), and as Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the surface, I remember my dad saying, with excitement: Look Zen! Look Zen! That's a man walking on the Moon! Man is on the Moon!

I realized in my 6-year-old mind what was happening and I remember grasping the concept, yet not fully realizing the-if you'll pardon the expression- 'gravity' of the event.

Like Jim mentioned, during later missions we'd still be outside in summertime when we get those late afternoon and very early evening moons and we would think about the fact that there were two men up there. We would run in a get dad's binoculars and try to see if we could see them.(My friends and I, ie, we were still little kids.)

I'm sure that the moon-landings and many other things that were happening in the 60s and 70s inspired my life-long devotion and fascination with manned-and unmanned- space exploration.

"Look Zen! Look Zen!" And my dad said "Look, Fester! Look, Fester!" :lol: Is Zen short for something, like, oh say Zenith? :lol: Is Galacticore a rather large clan in Georgia? You sure it wasn't the other Roswell? That would make more sense. Lurch says hey, Y'all!

I ought to change it to ZenMagnicore, or Magalacticore, maybe, for Magnivox. No, actually 'Zen' implies my spiritual side, and Galacticore suggests my science/reason side. Zen Buddhism, while technically separate from Christianity, still implies an inner-peace, which I strive for(it's hard sometimes).

There's a 'Zen' presence at the center of most galaxies. I thought about changing it to 'ZenGeorgiacore', :lol: , or maybe 'Logan 6', as Michael York played 'Logan 5' in 'Logan's Run'.

The aliens really are in Roswell, Ga. Jim. They pulled that whole New Mexico thing just to fool everybody. One of them is named Rodriguez. :lol:

 

[jim48]

We had just moved North to Roswell Ga. from Decatur in early June, 1969. I had just turned 6. Dad had bought a new Magnivox colored console tv (our first color tv), to go with the new house. The whole family-I'm the youngest of six- were in the den(not the livingroom, the livingroom was the room that mom kept all her inherited antique furniture that no one was ever allowed to sit in, except adult company), and as Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the surface, I remember my dad saying, with excitement: Look Zen! Look Zen! That's a man walking on the Moon! Man is on the Moon!

I realized in my 6-year-old mind what was happening and I remember grasping the concept, yet not fully realizing the-if you'll pardon the expression- 'gravity' of the event.

Like Jim mentioned, during later missions we'd still be outside in summertime when we get those late afternoon and very early evening moons and we would think about the fact that there were two men up there. We would run in a get dad's binoculars and try to see if we could see them.(My friends and I, ie, we were still little kids.)

I'm sure that the moon-landings and many other things that were happening in the 60s and 70s inspired my life-long devotion and fascination with manned-and unmanned- space exploration.

"Look Zen! Look Zen!" And my dad said "Look, Fester! Look, Fester!" :lol: Is Zen short for something, like, oh say Zenith? :lol: Is Galacticore a rather large clan in Georgia? You sure it wasn't the other Roswell? That would make more sense. Lurch says hey, Y'all!

I ought to change it to ZenMagnicore, or Magalacticore, maybe, for Magnivox. No, actually 'Zen' implies my spiritual side, and Galacticore suggests my science/reason side. Zen Buddhism, while technically separate from Christianity, still implies an inner-peace, which I strive for(it's hard sometimes).

There's a 'Zen' presence at the center of most galaxies. I thought about changing it to 'ZenGeorgiacore', :lol: , or maybe 'Logan 6', as Michael York played 'Logan 5' in 'Logan's Run'.

The aliens really are in Roswell, Ga. Jim. They pulled that whole New Mexico thing just to fool everybody. One of them is named Rodriguez. :lol:

Do us all a favor and change it to Biff. Yeah, I went all the way to Roswell and the only aliens I saw were Mexicans! :lol:

 

[cookie_thief]

I was twelve years old at the time and had been following the space program closely for several years. Because of this interest, I started reading newspapers at an early age and was well aware of the tulmultuous events occurring around the world. I kept a scrapbook of all newspaper articles pertaining to the space program and watched the all the launches, starting with Gemini 2 and watched every minute of every hour of coverage on TV up through the last Apollo mission (I remember getting up in the middle of a school night to watch some coverage of an Apollo mission at some ungodly hour).
So I remember well that warm Sunday afternoon at my grandma's when we listened to the TV as the astronauts announced their touchdown. And later that evening at home when we watched the shadowy images of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon. I remember getting up the next morning, racing to the local supermarket to get the morning edition with the image of Neil (or Buzz) descending down the ladder of the LEM slashed across the top half of the newspaper. I knew history had changed course and we were going to be on Mars in another ten years or so and I'd be working on the Moon when I turned forty.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Rodriguez de rrRoswhelle, Jorgia. Estados Unidos!

 

[jim48]

I was twelve years old at the time and had been following the space program closely for several years. Because of this interest, I started reading newspapers at an early age and was well aware of the tulmultuous events occurring around the world. I kept a scrapbook of all newspaper articles pertaining to the space program and watched the all the launches, starting with Gemini 2 and watched every minute of every hour of coverage on TV up through the last Apollo mission (I remember getting up in the middle of a school night to watch some coverage of an Apollo mission at some ungodly hour).
So I remember well that warm Sunday afternoon at my grandma's when we listened to the TV as the astronauts announced their touchdown. And later that evening at home when we watched the shadowy images of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon. I remember getting up the next morning, racing to the local supermarket to get the morning edition with the image of Neil (or Buzz) descending down the ladder of the LEM slashed across the top half of the newspaper. I knew history had changed course and we were going to be on Mars in another ten years or so and I'd be working on the Moon when I turned forty.

Then you were probably as let down as I was when we didn't build those Stanley Kubrick space stations and moon bases. I remember at the time of Apollo 11 Vice-President Agnew, who chaired some space committee, announcing plans for a manned Mars landing by the late '70s. Seriously. Sigh. What got us to the moon was tons of money, and Nixon and Congress weren't about to spend tons for moon bases and manned Mars missions. Skylab was cool and cheap and the plan was for early shuttle missions to boost it into a higer orbit to keep it going but the shuttle program was fraught with delays and poor Skylab burned up over Australia. So many missed opportunities! I know a couple of guys who worked on Apollo either at NASA or aerospace when they were in their late twenties, and they have been contacted and asked if they'd be interested in consulting on the new moon rocket. I think that's pretty cool!

 

[MeteorWayne]

This thread is sinking fast. Pity. Where are all of the Star Trek fans?

It's in Free Space. What did you expect?

I'll start a thread in M&L in July when the 40th Anniversery comes up with newspaper headlines and articles.

It will be at a far higher intellectual level than what comes up here. Sorry, but it's true.

 

[jimglenn]

jimbo, you need to wake up and smell the hydrazine. Politicians don't care about space travel or
exploration that much, it is just a branch of the military rocket corps, death and destruction matter more.

Witness the never ending killing and maiming of civilians by UAV's controlled by satellite, yes, they are in
space, I hope you are proud. Even Kennedy did not give a hoot about the moon, it was all about showing
up the USSR. That is why the program ended so quickly. Heck, to them, the Viet Nam fiasco was more
important. So much for the Domino Theory. :lol:

 

[jim48]

This thread is sinking fast. Pity. Where are all of the Star Trek fans?

It's in Free Space. What did you expect?

I'll start a thread in M&L in July when the 40th Anniversery comes up with newspaper headlines and articles.

It will be at a far higher intellectual level than what comes up here. Sorry, but it's true.

Your mere presence here has already boosted the IQ of this thread. My, aren't we the snob?

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Jim and Wayne,

Wow. I didn't realize this thread was supposed to be about deep, intellectual recollections. I mean, the title of the thread is: "Apollo 11 Memories". Jim, you were 11, and I was 6.* I remember it just like I related above.


*How old were you in '69 Wayne?

 

[jim48]

I've enjoyed everything posted here so far. Actually I was nine when they took off. They were gracious enough to splashdown on my tenth birthday! I love talking with young folks about the '60s space program and the Russians and all of that.