are you old enough to have watched the 1st moon landing?

Question

tell me about it. I'd like to hear your story. What it felt like,how old you were,etc. I was born in 1973 so i've only seen stock footage but am moved every time i watch any of the landings on video/dvd....but please don't send me any of that ''it was all faked'' rhubarb 'cos its getting a bit boring. Bart sibrel deserved the punch he got off buzz! also if you want to be really fussy you could say that the 1st actual words ON the moon (i mean in actual physical contact) was buzz saying ''contact light''!! Agree yes/no

Answer 1

Hi, Norma. i was 18 years old that year, and had been a space enthusiast for some time. My father was playing his part in the Apollo program, working as an inspector at the plant where the guidance system was made. He would sometimes bring home mission handbooks and such for me. Nothing secret, of course, just things he knew I'd find interesting. The night of July 20, I had been at a friend's house, and we were sitting around watching the final approach phase, when suddenly my friends decided to go for a walk! I was dumbfounded! Here we were, about to witness the most momentous event in the whole history of humanity, and they got bored and left! So, there I remained, sitting alone in a room lit by only a black and white TV, heart pounding, hands wringing, my eyes glued to the screen, the Eagle descending slowly to the surface. You may believe me when I say that I was riveted! I could hear the tension in the voices of Neil, Buzz, and the ground controllers. Hear it? I could FEEL it! So Buzz is calling out the numbers to Neil, the ship is getting closer and closer, then I hear "Kickin' up some dust now", more numbers, (at this point I don't think I was actually breathing) and then those words that I agree were the first from the moon's surface, "Contact light! Engine stop; Engine arm off" and then those historic words "Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed". We were on the moon! The dream of the ages was realized! My breath came out in a rush, and I sat back in my chair, letting the moment wash over me. A part of me couldn't believe that it was really happening, but of course I knew it had, and that mankind had actually made contact for the first time with another celestial body, an event that could never be repeated, and I was alive at the right time to see it. I felt proud of Neil and Buzz (and Mike, let's not forget him, poor guy), proud of my Dad and all the others who worked on the mission, proud of America, and proud of the world!. I knew that, at that moment, most of the world was feeling more or less what I was, that for just that time, we were truly united by our common humanity.
Over the next few days, I pretty much stayed glued to a television, wherever I happened to be, watching as the mission unfolded, watching one successful step after another, right up to splashdown. The one sour note for me was that it was Richard Nixon, of all people, whose name was on the plaque attached to the descent stage, and he who made the congratulatory phone call to our heroic astronauts, rather than John Kennedy, whose vision got the whole thing going. Since that day, I've never been able to look up at the moon without seeing, in my mind's eye, those bootprints in the regolith.
Thanks for letting me share my recollections of that event, Norma!

Answer 2

HA! I was around when Russia put up Sputnik 1 just after my birthday. I was serving in the US Navy in San Diego,CA.

I watched the first moon landing. I was 35 and living in the mountains of Colorado. I was glued to the tube like just about everyone else. I thought it was pretty neat.

As for it being faked. I have seen all those documentaries as well. Knowing how much the USA needed a boost for space exploration, I would have to say there is great room for doubt if the landing did happen. I cannot in honesty say one way or the other. I would like to have a telescope powerful enough to see some of the things left there from other flights. I believe if Goggle Earth can be sharp enough to show people and cattle they can turn one of their satellites to show the surface of the moon well enough to show the things left there. That would put the controversy to rest once and for all.

Answer 3

Yes. I was 18 at the time. I think the landing took place in the evening UK time, not sure about that as I was at work and worked shifts so it could have been any time of the day...I loved all that stuff, well I was 18 and there was lots of techie stuff...or techie stuff for its day.....I took ages from the acual landing before Armstrong got onto the surface, so there were all the usual experts giving their opinions and it got quite boring listening to them...but the acutal moment was memorable...the words used by Armstrong to the best of my recollection, were secret, and as the downlink was not that good it took a while for the UK audience to know what was said...but all agreed it was brilliant. The most thrilling was of course Apollo 13 and the most lasting shot for me was I think the last Lunar Landar taking off from the moon and being followed by the Camera.....great days.

Answer 4

I was quite young, but I saw it.

Where we were living, the landing took place during school hours, and they pulled the whole school into the auditorium to watch on the one B&W TV they had.

I was too young to really appreciate the drama and accomplishment of it all, and I don't remember what I felt about it and so on. But it is one of the memories I treasure most in my life.

PBS had a special a few years ago to mark one of the anniversaries (the 25th or 30th, I think?), in which they showed something like 8 straight hours of video, including, as I recall, the full unedited sequence of the final approach and landing. It was very interesting and moving, even after so many years.
Perhaps you can get a hold of it through PBS or NASA?

Answer 5

I was 19 at the time, a after college, I repaired TVs (yes, I started electronics at 12...).
In the large bedroom I had that was my lab, I had half a dozen TVs (all black and white, of course), all working. I watched the landing in 6 dimensions!!! At the same time, I listen on short-wave receivers and talked with some other radio-amateurs over the World.
Will never forget. Now I am a pilot, but never made it to cosmonaut...

Answer 6

I was only 5 years old in July of 1969 so I really don't remember much except for the film footage that we still see today. In 1975 my parents took us on a trip to Disney World and one of the stops on the way down was to Cape Canaveral (Kennedy Space Center). It was an awesome and interesting place to see, especially since I live in Grand Rapids, MI home of Roger B. Chaffee (Apollo 1).

Answer 7

U will never even come closet to accomplishing what these men have done . I was there and sat the tracking console on some of the missions. Oh yes what about the mirrors they were left on the moon so we could bounce a laser off it for some precision tracking data.

Answer 8

Let's see... in 1969 I was 21 years old, and half a world away from here in a place called Vietnam. We didn't have TV, but we were able to listen to the audio portion. It was truly thrilling. I was always very interested in our space program, and I followed it very closely. My military training was in electronics, mainly communications. I went on to become a satellite communications tech, and actually participated in some of the launches of our nations first domestic communications satellites. My career was a dream come true for a little boy with his head in the clouds.

Answer 9

Yes....I watched it on black and white TV....It seemed that everyone in the world who had a TV watched it or tried to. I set up my super eight film camera ( a camera at that time that recorded in color) in front of the TV and recorded the event. The film came out in light blue and of course there was flicker because of the difference in the scanning rate of the TV picture and the frames per second taken by the camera....
I was twenty nine years old at the time. Unfortunately, with the passing of time I have lost the film.....

Answer 10

Yes. I was in the middle of final university exams at the time, so I didn't get too excited about it (had other things to worry about!). Saw snippets on the TV in canteen at lunchtime.

To be frank, the Apollo 13 episode a couple of years later was much more exciting. We were all glued to TV and radio wondering if they would make it home.