Memories and feelings about the moon landings as you rememeber it?

Question

(I am doing a project with some children at school and they are looking at memories from around the world on the moon landings in 1969) Thanks

Answer 1

July 20, 1969

I was 17 years old and employed as an assistant counsellor at a summer camp in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. During the day, we had our radios on, and people were sharing updates in between regular camp activities. I remember someone coming into our cabin and telling us that the lunar module had landed, but that the astronauts would not be exiting from it for several hours.

That evening, after "lights out" for the campers, I accompanied several counsellors to the camp director's cabin to watch the developments on the camp's only television set. This was long before the days of cable tv, and the reception at this remote location in the mountains was not very good. As it is, the quality of the broadcast from the moon was blurry even on a good tv, so we did not have the best picture. Still, we could make out the spacecraft sitting on the lunar surface....and we waited.

Eventually we saw Neil Armstrong emerge, we saw him descend the ladder, we heard him speak so matter-of-factly about what he was doing. "I'm starting to descend the ladder.....I'm on the last rung......I'm going to step onto the lunar surface now...." And then the now-famous quote, "that's one small step for man....."

And then we actually saw a man walk on the moon! Live! I had the sense that something immensely significant had changed in the blink of an eye. For the entire history of the human race the moon had been unreachable, and now we were watching someone walk on it. And it happened so quietly, accompanied by Armstrong's humble, low-key demeanor, without the triumphant music that would have been playing had this been a movie!

My strongest memory of that evening, however, is what happened when we left to return to our own cabins. As I walked across the baseball field I suddenly stopped, turned, and stared at the moon. I was struck by the fact that it looked the same as it always had, but I knew it wasn't the same.

I had looked at the moon all my life, and now I tried to get it into my head that two men were up there at that moment even as I gazed at it. Even though I couldn't see them, of course, I knew I was looking at them. As I was about to head to my bed in my cabin, they were settling down to go to sleep up there! It seemed so unreal, so hard to believe.

It may be that someday I will be sitting in front of a tv set, with a much better picture, watching the first human walk on Mars. I'm sure I'll find that exciting, but I doubt if it will have the impact of watching the moon landing. By now, I have developed an expectation that we can visit other worlds. Back then, the moon BECAME another world , as opposed to merely something in the sky, when someone walked on it.

(subjectively speaking, of course :)

Answer 2

I was walking my grandmother across the street. She was born in 1882, before the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane. I told her,"Look, Nana, there are men on the moon right now walking around". She had a real hard time believing it, as I would to. That example to me brought home the reality of what this country did in 69!

Answer 3

I was born in 1969 . I remember growing up and hearing my great grandmother say that she didn't believe we landed on the moon, it was Hollywood staged she said. This was a women that lived during a time that saw so much change in her life time. I guess it was hard to believe it was all real.

Answer 4

well said, Michael!!!.....

I was a young mother, sitting on the couch , glued to the tv, while my hubby watched the baby so I could actually HEAR what was going on... he wasn't so thrilled about the man on the moon like I was.... he wanted me to fix supper and I didn't want to move, just in case I missed something..... I'd already had quite a week, praying for the success of the trip and the safety of the men.... from lift off to his foot on the moon, I lived, breathed and dreamed moon trip!!!... I was so proud of us!!!... I'd heard my president insist a few years back that WE COULD DO IT... that we WOULD do it... and here we were!!!.... all the terrors of the world, the wars, the assassinations, the civil battles, all of it was suddenly inconsequential compared to this outstanding development!... we went to the moon.... totally freekin' amazing!!!.....

having watched this all come about from Sputnik to dog/chimp in space, to the loss of the brave men on the launch pad, I'd waited for this one moment in time...to see all that work come to fruition!... . I was thrilled....

as a fan of science fiction, it was almost like seeing a dream come true... Arthur Clarke, my hero, was suddenly replaced by Neil......fantasy was now reality.... those far-fetched ideas some of us had might could one day actually be carried out!....if they hadn't sent the majority of our good men to "Nam back then, we might have been on Mars already..... sigh.....

Answer 5

I remember that Walter Cronkite was very moved by it.