Did you see Man walk on the Moon 50 years ago?

[edhopper]

Last edited Sun Jul 21, 2019, 12:26 PM - Edit history (1)

I was a young teen, but obsessed and riveted by one of mankind's great acheivements.
I thought so then, and the years have not diminished my opinion.

A thread to appreciate and honor all those who got us to take that one small step.




Added 7/21:
Thank you all for so many relpies and recs. Great to see so many of us old farts on DU.

[Kurt V.]

1. knr. i was 6 and remember it clearly. Appreciate what those brave ppl did.

[maxsolomon]

196. About the same age - 5 1/2

I remember it, but the entire Space Program didn't seem that unusual to a child - it was normal!

When everyone stopped to watch it, yes, that was memorable.

I had a plaque of Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins on the wall in my bedroom. Might still be there!

[dhol82]

2. I was in my early twenties.

I was so entranced to be standing in Central Park along with thousands of other people watching huge screens streaming the moon walk live. Not sure how it was done then but I know I saw the moon walk.
It was an amazing experience!

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Yes, I did. I was enthralled.

[JHB]

4. Yep. I wasn't quite 5.

My uncle was one of the engineers working on the LEM at Grumman.

[murielm99]

5. I was almost 21.

It was fascinating. I will never forget it.

[alfie]

6. I was 24 and 9 months pregnant

I had planned to go with our best friends on a picnic that day, had prepared fried chicken, potato salad, and brownies for the picnic. She called early to say that she was at the hospital and in labor. Her son was delivered later that day.

My husband and I sat glued to the TV for 2 days watching history unfold before our eyes...and eating fried chicken, potato salad, and brownies.

Like Kennedy's assassination 6 years earlier, it is a time I will never forget.

[TheCowsCameHome]

66. Wow! That was a long pregnancy.

Too easy, couldn't resist - sorry. hi:

Congratulations on the birth of your son.

[samnsara]

75. I was 19 with a week old colicky infant

[redstatebluegirl]

7. Yes I was 14.

My parents had a watch party at our house because my Dad had splurged for a color TV just for this reason. It was amazing! Neighbors, 4H friends, and family watching together.

[SCVDem]

113. Same here.

I was at my Grandparents. They had a color TV.

CNN has a pretty good movie running right now.

Hard not to get a little teary eyed.

[DeminPennswoods]

130. Was 15

and remember watching it.

[Skittles]

8. yes

I was overseas and it was a very proud moment indeed

[mainstreetonce]

9. We had a death in the family that weekend

We were back and forth to the funeral home.
In Sun.night my father asked if he could stay home so he didn't miss the landing.
We got home from the funeral home in time to watch all together.
When I was remembering that story,it occurred to me that I am the only person from that group to be here to see the 50th celebration.

[barbtries]

71. that's sad.

i was 13 at the time and most of the people present are still alive. though next door, at my house, my mother was recently widowed and would only live another 11 years.

[alphafemale]

197. Just a few weeks before my 5th birthday

And I remember B&W footage.

My mother and aunt were fretting that the astronauts were going to get attacked by a moon man.

Even at that age I rolled my eyes so hard I nearly gave myself a concussion.

[bluestarone]

10. Oh yea for sure!

Was really awesome to see

[mike_c]

11. sounds like we're about the same age....

I was 14 in 1969. Yes, I watched it with great enthusiasm.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Yes, I'd just graduated from college, watched on B&W tv.

I thought it was very cool, but the magnitude of the whole thing didn't really sink in for me until Apollo 13.

[rateyes]

13. I was 9. I remember.

[LiberalLoner]

14. I was a couple weeks shy of my 8th birthday. Remember that day clearly!

[GP6971]

15. I couldn't watch the whole thing through

I was 19 and working at my summer job. We had a TV and watched the newscasts during breaks.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Yes, it happened the day after I turned 21 and I was at home with

my 5 month-old son.

[FoxNewsSucks]

17. I was 7

and was fascinated by the entire space program, right up through Skylab, and then the shuttles. I was so sad when the last shuttle flew a few years ago. Maybe that's when America stopped being great, when republicon tax cuts took away our ability to do things and have things.

[tonedevil]

18. Heard it on radio.

I was at a Boy scout event and we listened in rapt attention.

[bitterross]

19. Yes! My dad sat us all down for it.

I watched it on a B&W TV with rabbit ears!

[Hortensis]

20. Oh, yes! Literally awesome. The afternoon before, while

they were still on their way and I was walking down the street, the moon looked strangely large and close in the sky ahead (must have timed the flight for when its orbit came unusually close) and it really seemed as if they should be able to just fly to it.

I do unfortunately also remember being offended when President Nixon made Aldrin and Armstrong halt their brief time on the surface to take a phone call from him, during which Nixon babbled on and did almost all of the talking while they stood frozen in place.

But it was truly amazing to be watching it from home. Even connecting us in Nevada, the men on the moon, and Nixon in the oval office in real time was awesome in those days.

[yonder]

21. I was 14, living on Nellis AFB. Very hot summer day. The whole family was watching our B/W TV.

I recently discovered that the time of day I remembered as the first step was actually the landing. The video feed was awful and hard to make out and everything seemed to take forever. Finally though, the big moment came and we were all shouting and jumping around.

[lunatica]

22. I saw it. I listened to or saw all the Apollo launches and landings.

It was a time in our history when there wasn’t anything we and humanity couldn’t do.

Then the Republicans started to systematically cut funding for manned space travel. Always whining about too much spending. Waaa, Waaa, Waaa.

When I recall those days it feels like I’m in mourning.

I’m glad I didn’t know what it would turn out to be today.

I do hope to live long enough to see us going back in the direction of progress and positivity.

[Useless in FL]

23. I did.

I was 29 years old. I was in awe and hopeful for future space exploration...and a hope that the countries of the world would unite to make future ventures happen. I was so naïve, so young, so hopeful for discovery of life.

[misanthrope]

24. I was 5 years old

and my mother drilled into me the importance what we were watching at the neighbor's house (she had a color TV). I recall looking up at the moon to try and see the astronauts when we went back home.

[GulfCoast66]

25. My mother tells me I did!

And it seems like maybe I do remember something. But I highly doubt a 35 month old child actually remembers. Probably created memories.

[Chellee]

165. Me too.

I had just turned three. I have absolutely zero recollection of this, but my mother thought it was important that I watch.

[amb123]

26. I was almost 7 at the time.

It was the first time ever my parents let me stay up at night. My Dad (US Air Force) was stationed at Eaker AF Base in Blytheville, Arkansas. I clearly remember sitting in front of a Admiral 12" Color TV on a TV stand next to the front door of our home on the base. Mom, Dad and my brother Mike sat on a couch.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

27. Yep...whole family was there.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

28. I was a young mom of 19

I had 10 month old daughter sleeping beside me while sitting in the middle of the living room floor absolutely enthralled. My husband was serving with the 82nd Airborne and wasn’t there. I remember thinking my daughter will never know a time when man wasn’t on the moon. I hoped something just as thrilling would happen during her lifetime but at that moment I couldn’t begin to imagine what it could be.

[CousinIT]

29. I was nine.

And I as well as the rest of my family was riveted to the television. It's heartbreaking to see how far we've fallen as a nation that we don't produce anything now but private prisons, and we are (over)ruled by a bunch of corporate cults who don't even believe in goddamned science or education and want to abolish it from our government and our lives.

But - those were some fascinating times.

[Lint Head]

30. Yes.

[kimbutgar]

31. I was 13 years old visiting my grandparents in Chicago

My younger cousin Doug and I were jumping up and down in excitement screaming saying “we landed on the moon”. My step grandfather was silent and then said he never thought he’d see this in his lifetime. I remember watching it on a big box color console tv. My Grandmother
bragging that they had a color tv like it was status symbol.

50 years ago - time sure does fly before your eyes.

[misanthrope]

57. If you grew up in my socioeconomic class

a color TV was a status symbol, especially one in the big wooden console.

[MuseRider]

74. Same here!

I big status symbol.

[hunter]

32. Oh hell yes.

My grandfather was an Apollo Project engineer. Bits of metal he made, metals and machining that were considered exotic and even "impossible" at the time, took men to the moon and back.

He joined the Army Air Corp before World War II. Previously he'd run off to the "big city" of Cheyenne Wyoming as a teen and discovered it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He figured the Army would put him in a airplane and he'd make the girls swoon but it didn't turn out that way. He was an autistic spectrum klutz who could barely ride a bicycle. I saw him ride a bicycle once and it was terrifying. My grandpa is going to die...

The Army kept him mostly on the ground.

He acquired a knack for exotic metals during World War II but he never talked about that. Defeating Germany and Japan was a dirty job that had to be done. I suspect he did some very dirty stuff examining Nazi and Japanese Empire technology.

When the Air Force became the "third leg" of the military triad my grandfather and anyone else considered eccentric were discarded. My grandfather was highly eccentric. During the war he'd been a handsome officer who had a driver and a fancy car who carried a "get out of jail free" card for people more brilliantly eccentric than he was.

Sputnik changed everything for him.

His mad skills were needed again.

[JenniferJuniper]

33. Yes. I was six and always

thought I'd grow up in a time with even greater achievements. And we'd end wars and poverty and racism.

Yeah, misplaced optimism for sure.

[MuseRider]

77. Do you live up on a hill?

Sorry, I loved that song. Loved Donovan. Every time I see your name I smile.

[richsonpoordad]

34. yes

[Stonepounder]

35. I was 20 years old and was a camp counselor that summer.

We let the kids stay up late and watch on a TV that we snagged from the counselor's lounge. I'll never forget that night.

[Scurrilous]

108. I was at camp that summer too.

There was one small black and white TV in the CIT cabin and only a dozen people could fit in the room to watch. The rest of us were in the dining hall watching our Sunday night movie: Oceans Eleven with the rat pack. When they touched down they stopped to movie to let everyone know. It was pretty exciting.

[lordsummerisle]

36. Yes

and I even took a few shots of the tv with my Minox.

[secondwind]

37. 22 yrs old then, working in a law office... they had a tv going...

[irisblue]

38. The TV was snowy. I was impressed by the delay in radio/TV transmission time

It was a hot night, mom put a sheet down on the linoleum in the kitchen and we kids slept there.

[trev]

39. I was 14 and was riveted by it.

I was a huge fan of sic-fi and Star Trek in particular. I was astounded to see that stuff starting to come true.

[panader0]

40. I was 18 and working for Mayflower as a summer job in D.C.

We were packing a kitchen, wrapping dishes in paper and boxing them up.
The owners had a small TV on the kitchen counter when the news came on.
We all stopped working and stood, slack jawed, staring at the TV. We all knew
somehow that nothing was the same anymore.

[GeorgeGist]

41. 21 and watching with my wife to be.

[MANative]

42. Yes. I was 9 years old and remember it vividly. Nt

[yaesu]

43. I was a just a kid, messing around an old quonset hut shed at my grandparents

probably playing with some of the old WWII items my uncles brought back, I remember being called in the house in time to watch the simulation moon landing on their B&W TV. Sadly, I don't remember if I was watching when they took their first steps.

[Ferrets are Cool]

44. 12 years old and GLUED to the television.

It was a magical moment in time.

[John1956PA]

116. Same here. This morning, I posted my recollections on my Facebook page. n/t

[Ferrets are Cool]

170. ...

[pazzyanne]

45. I was in my third year of teaching, and the school set up TVs so we could watch.

I was teaching a summer school enrichment class.

[kairos12]

46. Yes. Living in Houston as a teen.

[jalan48]

47. I heard it while driving.

[Demonaut]

48. I was six but I never forgot

the tv was set at high volume and the beep every few seconds hurt my ears

[Tribalceltic]

49. Yes I was 7

I have picture of me watching it on my parents TV.

[colsohlibgal]

50. Yes

Was a Teen also but remember it like yesterday. BTW also memorable was the previous and first flight to the moon, they circled it but did not land....it was our first glance at the dark side of the Moon.

[bobbieinok]

51. Our son was born June 10, 69. We watched,listened, tape with periodic baby cries

My mom (1913-2005) was fascinated by the whole drive to the moon. She watched and read everything she could find, collected books, posters, patches.

She had smoked since she was in her 20s, but knew it was unhealthy.

She decided that if those young men could discipline themselves to go to the moon, she could discipline herself to stop smoking for the good of her new grandson (1st grandchild). So she stopped cold!

[Dave in VA]

52. Yes

I was 16 then. Great memories.

[DinahMoeHum]

53. I was 13 and at summer camp. . .

. . .where there were a couple of TVs we clustered around. Big cheers when the LM landed and later when Armstrong and Aldrin stepped on the surface.

[madinmaryland]

54. Yes.

[TygrBright]

55. I sure did. Will NEVER forget it. Seemed like hope was infinite then. n/t

[TruckFump]

56. Yes. I was 21 years old. EOM.

[BadgerMom]

58. I was 16.

My Southern California family was vacationing in San Francisco. We were at dinner at a swanky restaurant on the Wharf. I missed being glued to the television but always will remember the announcement, cheers and applause. It was somethin’.

[MacKasey]

59. Yes

My family got together to watch at my aunt's house who had a new TV

I was in my twenty's

I collected all the magazine articles and I think newspapers, my nephew who was 7 still has them

[randr]

60. Saw it with friends

and some fine LSD. Etched in my brain.

[sdfernando]

61. Yes!

We were living in Panama watching it on Armed Forces TV..,,although all the local channels (2) carried it as well. It was my 8th birthday.

[moonseller66]

62. Growing up in the late 50s, fascinated with Sputnik...

and "Explorer" then seeing the first human set foot on the moon...never thinking I'd also see the last Human step on the moon a few years later.

I'm still waiting to see another fifty years since... but thanks to small minds, stupid politics and monumental greed I'm thinking, but hoping it won't be another 50 years before it's done again.

(Edited for spelling)

[rzemanfl]

63. 21, in married student housing with my very pregnant wife. n/t

[SilasSouleII]

64. 8 years old

and will never forget the chuckle from the always serious Walter Cronkite.

[FakeNoose]

65. Yes I was 18 and just graduated from high school

It was the coolest summer ever! I loved the Apollo project and followed it through all the different stages. In the summer of 1969 I had several things going on, including getting ready for my first trip to college.

[Boomerproud]

67. Yes. 13 years old.

We had gone to the county fair that evening. Everyone gathered around the tv. Wonderful night. The next morning my brother walked thru the door returning safely from Vietnam.

[barbtries]

68. i did.

i had to go to my friend Joyce's house next door because they had a color TV. My mother died in 1980 without ever getting a color TV. she didn't want one.

[MuseRider]

69. At Kansas University

Music and Arts Camp. We all stayed up, a hundred and more girls in McCollum Hall, laying around in our jammies with snacks watching on a smallish black and while TV. It was awesome and inspiring. We had to be awake and up early for rehearsals. Best times of my life really. Away from home for 6 weeks with strangers I grew to love and we watched a miracle that night. I will remember it until I am no more. Those were incredible days.

Talking to my husband tonight about this. The world was in such a mess but we never thought we would not keep rising and might just make it to a peaceful world and science was going to be our guide to share with others. We never thought in our last decades we would watch it all go away without any real hope of anything like that ever happening again. I am sad for my children.

Anyway, wasn't it something that night? We were so very lucky to have had those incredible moments.

[gladium et scutum]

70. I was in San Diego

in Navy boot camp at the time. They allowed us to turn on the TV in our barracks to watch the film of the landing on that evening's news. We all cheered.

[applegrove]

72. I saw one moon landing. Don't know which Apollo it was. My dad made a joke that someone's toothbrush

could be floating away. Could be that one of the astronauts first name was Gordon.

[samnsara]

73. yep!!! it was pretty cool..kinda scratchy and snowy on the b/w set

[Crabby Appleton]

76. No, I was in the Army in Vietnam

If there was a TV around I didn't know where it was. Thought it was pretty cool though.

[doc03]

78. Yes I saw it when I was in the army stationed in Germany. We watched it in the dayroom on a

small B&W TV. I was 21 at the time.

[Rebl2]

79. Yes I watched

it with my family and was age 12. I was so fascinated with the Apollo program. I kept a scrapbook on the Apollo program from the age of 10 until early high school. Still have it somewhere in my house along with a book on Apollo 11 that I bought from my local newspaper in Kansas City.

[Thew]

80. I was 15 days old

Just spoke with Mom - she and Dad took me over to a friends house to watch (and show off their newborn)

So I kinda watched it =)

[getagrip_already]

81. 11 here... I can still see the room

We watched it in. The 12" tv and the cart it was on. Even what we snacked on while we watched.

11 year old's today... Maybe they saw the sports car get launched into space. Probably not live though.

And they spent maybe 1 minute thinking about it. Then they absorbed trumps immature antics and thought that looks fun......

[podex101]

82. Yes I did

I remember, it is one of my earliest memories.

[SeattleVet]

83. Absolutely!

I was 15 and had followed every launch through the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. Followed every minute of this mission that was on TV. The thing that bothered me the most was the announcers and analysts talking over the Mission Control and flight audio; I thought that was much more interesting than most of whatever the newspeople were saying.

I have *finally* been able to listen to all of that to my heart's content via the Apollo in Real Time site (11,000 hours of audio, every transmission and all of the Mission Control 'loop' chatter, etc.). You can either jump in at any point of the mission or follow it in 'real time - 50 years later' at https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/. Amazing site - a true labor of love to pull together everything that they did.

[meow2u3]

84. I was 8 and my mom woke me up from my sleep, along with my sibs

We were in the living room watching on the family black-and-white TV. I was riveted then and am riveted now, watching it on C-SPAN earlier.

[mountain grammy]

85. 21, watched it with my 15 month old son

While my inebriated first husband snored away..

[marigold20]

86. Yes!

I was 21, working a summer job as a nurse's aide in a nursing home. There was a TV in the patient lounge and I managed to see the walk. I was pretty excited but some of the elderly residents weren't buying it at all. I also remember that the home was not air conditioned! It was so hot...

[Martin Eden]

87. Yes, it was must-see TV in my house

I was not quite 12.

[Igel]

88. Absolutely.

Asked my father if I could stay up late to watch it. He said yes. He couldn't stay up--he had to be at work before 7 the next morning. Shift work, he had the early shift.

My mother disapproved of NASA. Fortunately, she was working that night--she also worked shifts, and had the midnight shift--so she didn't need to know I was staying up late. The money should have been spent on people, she'd complain, not "wasting" it by trying to go to space when there was suffering on Earth. Sometimes you need to spend money on knowledge or wonder, not just on bread: If you only look at the ground and at your feet, that's the highest you'll achieve.

We had many arguments about that over the years.

But it was really weird and exciting, seeing images of humans so far away, in an environment so incredibly hostile, doing what was wild science fiction a hundred years before.

[Gore1FL]

89. I was 3.5

My parents "made" me watch it. I am glad they did.

[llmart]

90. Yes, I did see it and remember it like it was yesterday.

I was 19 and got married the day before. We borrowed someone's portable black and white TV with the rabbit ears and watched. I remember not being able to wrap my mind around seeing the moon out my window and knowing there were men on it. Ironically, my first born, a son is now a software engineer for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center.

[Laffy Kat]

91. I was twelve-years-old and watched at my friend's house.

During a sleepover on her black and white T.V. I remember calling my parents to share my excitement.

[uptrumps_but]

92. with happening 50 years ago.....

the nothing that has happened since then.. a positive for humanity was washed away. oh yeah we had 20 years of space shuttles that fell apart and crashed... as a young boy in 1969 i had great hopes for my future... went away like a fart in the wind... we haven't done shit since , except for war

[jojog]

93. Yes I did. My dad was a contractor for NASA.

[AllaN01Bear]

94. i was a small boy when that happened and my mouth hit the floor and ate it up.

[honest.abe]

95. Yep.. i was a teenager. 14 years old and fascinated by it all.

My parents bought me a model kit of the LEM and Saturn rocket. I was obsessed with rockets and space travel. It was a wonderful time period to grow up as a kid in this country.

[eppur_se_muova]

96. 9 yrs old. Watched it at a neighbor's house since we still didn't have a TV.

I grew up in Huntsville and my dad worked for a NASA contractor, Brown Engineering (now a Teledyne subsidiary). We always took visitors to the Space Museum, such as it was at the time. They didn't build the big US Space and Rocket Center until later -- but I did see my first fiber optics there, and we had seen all the NASA publicity films, so we were pretty much familiar with every step of the mission. Our scrap drawing paper at home was from extra copies of reports showing all the engineering drawings etc. of the Saturn V, LEM, CSM, etc. Of course, we didn't think to save any of them ! After the US Space & Rocket Center was built, I saw my first solid-state TV screen (tiny!!) there -- back in the early 70's -- and my first hologram. And we did get to see the launch of Apollo 16 (IIRC -- it might have been 17). Hard to describe what a letdown it was when the whole program went into decline after that.

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2155

[misanthrope]

120. I remember that hologram!

It was a monochromatic one -- maybe of an astronaut in a lunar rover -- in the middle of the space and rocket center.

[eppur_se_muova]

174. Yep, red He-Ne laser -- that's all we had back in the day. :)

If you wanted blue holograms, you had to hand-tint those yourself !

[warmfeet]

97. I was six.

It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

It is still the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

In celebration of Neil Armstrong, Buzz (Edwin Eugene Jr.) Aldrin, Michael Collins and everyone at NASA that made this mission possible, I salute all of you. This is the single most important, and impressive, accomplishment to date, made by humans. It shows what we are capable of.

Next step, minimize damage from global warming.

We can do it, with leadership.

Hey, what's the point of going to the moon if we burn up our planet 100 years hence?

[CottonBear]

98. I did! With my family!

[Frustratedlady]

99. Yes. I worked in Q.C. for a company which made items for the space ship.

The employees took pride in being part of the project and the company set up TVs throughout the place so we could watch. There were many misty eyes, I can tell you.

[Talitha]

100. I was 16, in Ft Lauderdale with my Family, visiting relatives.

After the main excitement was over, my cousins, siblings and I ran outside to whoop, holler, and wave madly at the Moon. Every kid on the block was out there doing the same thing, what a memory!

Then in 1979, I watched the 10 year anniversary program of the Moon landing while in the hospital - in labor with my first child. It was a boy... he'll be 40 tomorrow (Sunday).

[mnhtnbb]

101. Parts of it...

I had graduated high school June '69 and was working a full-time summer job as a relief nursing unit clerk at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla. The TV was on in the waiting area/lounge by the elevators of the floor I was working that day. I found lots of excuses to run errands using the elevators so I could see what was happening when I went by!

[Marthe48]

102. I had my appendix out

I wasn't quite 17, so I was put in the children's ward while I was recovering. I was the oldest patient in there, and we all got along fine. I had been looking forward to watching the moon landing. The nurses were all really nice and I asked them if I could stay up and watch the moon landing. I got permission and someone brought a teevee into my room from our playroom. A little girl wanted to watch it too, so we curled up in my bed and watched it. I never forgot where I was to watch the moon landing.

Last week, almost 50 years to the week I had mine removed, my grand daughter had her appendix out. She is doing fine.

[spike jones]

103. A way you will never be.

I remember watching it on tv while in Bishop California. I was tripping on acid and listening to Hendrix and David Bowie on the radio. Space Oddity was played.

[proud patriot]

104. I was 50 days old

though I was probably bouncing on a lap or something in
room full of people watching .

[ancianita]

105. Yes. My husband (just returned from bootcamp), I and our 1 month old daughter watched together.

Her first time watching TV, and that's what she saw.

[Marthe48]

106. So many cool stories

I can picture the rooms, the people, the kids. Great read!

[LAS14]

107. Yes!

[proActivist]

109. Yes! And just the year before,

2001, A Space Odyssey, was released. Everything in 2001 was actually on its way to becoming real.

[edhopper]

110. My favorite movie

the future use to be so much better.

[pecosbob]

123. Two formative movies I saw that Summer I was ten...2001, A Space Odyssey and Kelly's Heroes

[edhopper]

133. You gotta stop

with the negtive waves, Man!

[LakeArenal]

111. Two yeses here.

Tho one watched on a small black and white tv in the back at work of the drive-in.

[CentralMass]

112. Yes. I was 9.

[VarryOn]

114. the days around July 20, 1969 are quite memorable....

I was 16.

My brother and sister-in-law were married on Friday, July 11. They just celebrated 50 years.

My grandmother died unexpectedly on Monday, July 14. ,my 9 year old brother found her facedown in her garden.

On that that Saturday the 19th, Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge killing Mary Joe Kopechne at Chappaquidick under strange circumstances.

I remember going to church on the morning of the 20th and coming home, eathing lunch with many of the family and watching all the coverage of the landing, while all my Kennedy-hating grandfather could only talk about was Chappaquidick! I always thought Teddy was a huge beneficiary of the nation's distraction over the moon landing...except my Papa's!

[SCVDem]

115. Apollo 11, Earth

Thank you!

[trackfan]

117. Yes n/t

[Historic NY]

118. Yes..

[hunter]

119. My wife and I just watched it all again exactly fifty years later.

Aldrin and Armstrong are back in the LEM now and everyone is resting and getting ready for the return trip.

The high drama is that nobody knows exactly where Tranquility Base is and they need to know that so Aldrin and Armstrong can launch themselves into an orbit from which Michael Collins can retrieve them for the ride home.

Collins later said his greatest fear was that he'd be coming home without them.

[MFM008]

121. I was 10

Highly upset it had taken over the tv and screwed up the cartoons.
I wasnt very appreciative of science then.

[marlakay]

122. I was 13 remember

Very clearly and family very excited by it.

We all held our breath as they went around the dark side and as they stepped off onto the moon.

[pecosbob]

124. On our turquoise blue naugahyde sofa

on a RCA television that had one of those early remote controls that went 'k-chunk, k-chunk' when you changed channels.

[scarletlib]

125. Yes

I was 20 years old. Everyone in the house went to bed except me. It was something I just had to see.

I think,in hindsight, NASA made a big mistake abandoning the moon missions.

Maybe we should have built a Moon station before the space station.

[Vinca]

126. I remember it clearly. I was working with elderly patients at a psychiatric hospital.

We were in the solarium with the black and white television on and patients and employees all watched . . . except for the one old girl who was content to tat her millionth yard of lace. LOL.

[treestar]

127. Yes, I was 9

We got up in the middle of the night for it. Edit: it was 10:56 p.m. on the East Coast. We must have been put to bed and then woken up around 10:45 or so. Thus it felt like the middle of the night.

I recall that on the way back, the astronauts did a little segment for kids about life in the rocket.

We watched the "splashdowns" too. They came from the capsule on a rope let down from a helicopter. I especially recall how concerned NASA was about what alien germs or whatnot could come back with them! They were quarantined for a while.

[zeusdogmom]

128. I had to "see"it via a transistor radio (remember those?)

I was a Girl Scout Summer Camp leader at Singing Hills GS camp. I and two other young women were responsible for 40 10-12 year old girls in a primitive camp site. Yep no running water other than what we called a birdbath, latrines and cook all meals over a campfire. Best summer ever!!!!

We all sat around the camp table, listening to this historic event, drinking bug juice and eating GS cookies. I can still see those young faces in my mind. Because we were so removed from civilization the sky seemed even more remarkable that night.

[tavernier]

129. Pregnant for second kid.

Watched it in our new apartment with husband #1 and friends. The Beatles were big, also color tv (which was advertised ad nauseum in the windows of every department store), and Tupperware parties were the social event of young housewives.

Remember it like yesterday. Better than yesterday, lol.

[Granny M]

131. I was 15, and remember it well. nt

[Silver Gaia]

137. I was 15, too.

I watched it with my family and my boyfriend, and it's a memory that remains strong and vivid. For me, that first footstep was a sacred moment.

[Granny M]

155. I was with a group of friends.

Amazing to watch it. That gaggle of noisy teens was silent as we watched and heard his famous words - "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

[LittleGirl]

132. I was 9 and we were glued to the tv

watching it all. You bet.

black and white tv actually.

[tblue37]

134. Yep. I was 19 years old. nt

[SWBTATTReg]

135. We watched from my Uncle's place in Huntsville, Alabama, where he worked on the Apollo pgm...

neat.

[Bayard]

136. You betcha!

Watched with my Dad, at 12 yrs old. He took pictures of our b/w TV screen with b/w film. The moon ended up looking green in those photos.

SO exciting!!

[murielm99]

138. I was so mesmerized by it that

I came into the living room holding a cup of coffee, and tried to back up onto a footstool so I could sit down. I tripped and spilled coffee on myself. I had burns and had to sit in a cold tub of water later in the day. I saw the moon walking anyway.

I read that liftoff was watched by so many people that traffic, phone calls and other sorts of businesses slowed down temporarily. Water pipes in large buildings nearly burst because few people were running water or flushing toilets.

I was working in a large store during liftoff. We wheeled a TV into the room. It was a customer service area, where the phones rang constantly. Only two phones rang during that time, and we ignored them.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I kept going outside to look at the moon. I will never forget it!

[Daphne08]

139. Yes

Our entire family watched. It was mesmerizing!

[TryLogic]

140. I was watching on our small B&W TV, while studying for doctoral language requirement.

[love_katz]

141. YES!

I remember it vividly. Got chills at the time, thinking of humans walking on the moon. The thing that reached me the most was the picture of Earth rising against the black backdrop of space, which was used at the early celebrations of Earth Days. Always makes me tear up and reaches me at the deepest emotional levels. I always wish that the majority of Earth 's inhabitants could look at that photo and embrace the importance of healing, protecting and preserving our only home. 🌎.

[Codeine]

142. I was still doing fetus stuff then.

As ever, a bit late to the party.

[Crunchy Frog]

143. I'm sure I did, but I was only six, and didn't have a good understanding of what was going on.

What I can vividly remember is Captian Kangaroo doing some mock up of the Moon landing, and believing that he had actually gone to the moon.

I was not a particularly sophisticated child.

[TrogL]

144. We went next door to watch it on the neighbour's TV

[Karadeniz]

145. Our small class of ancient Greek had gathered together to do our homework, as we did every

night. The TV was right up among us so we wouldn't miss a thing. Suddenly the screen went dark and a slow light revealed a circular object, like a reverse eclipse. The graduate student from Amherst was oohing and ahing at the majesty being revealed...he was so vocal we all had to drop everything and watch. Then, as the light progressed, it revealed the word, Tums...it was the cleverest ad I'd ever seen!

[jpak]

146. Yes

We drove home from Camp that night just to see it.

I remember looking up at the Moon and saying to myself "There are men on it - right now".

We had an 11 inch B&W TV and really couldn't make out what was going on.

We could see the LM and movement, but what was happening was unclear - until we heard Neil Armstrong speak.

And I remember thinking it was an odd thing to say (he meant to say "One small step for a man..."...not "One small step for Man".

[Ilsa]

147. Yes. nt

[lunamagica]

148. I love reading these stories! I can only imagine how exciting it must have been to be a kid back

then. Unfortunately, I have never experienced anything comparable in my lifetime.

[SouthernLiberal]

149. I was 15

My parents let me have my two best friend over. We set up blankets and pillows in the living room, and stayed up nearly all night watching. It was the most exciting thing in my life to that point.

[misanthrope]

150. Always liked this scene

[Brother Buzz]

151. I have no memory of Apollo 11

I may be the only person in the world that has no memory of the moon landing. I believe I was on 'The Mother of all road trips' when all that happened. And when I say 'I believe' I have to defer to the saying, "If you can remember the 1960's, you weren't really there"

[AdamGG]

152. I was 5 and remember my mom sitting me down in front of the tv to watch it

I remember watching it for a bit, but wanting to switch back to Speed Racer or Underdog or something. I was 5.

[edbermac]

153. Yes. Down on Cape Cod while on vacation.

Was totally psyched from launch date to landing

[JPPaverage]

154. I was 11

And I remember it very clearly. My mom called to my sister and I to "come in and watch this." And we sat spellbound. History.

[ashling]

156. I was 17.

[yuiyoshida]

157. Did I read some where, that during that time period the most popular show on TV

opened like this...

and ended like this...

[misanthrope]

161. It wasn't the most popular show on TV then

It was cancelled that year due to poor ratings. Star Trek developed its legendary following and status in syndication starting just a few years after that.

[sarge43]

163. Nope

NBC suits were all set to cancel it after the second season. They had it buried in the schedule grave yard - late Friday night. We Trek nerds had to carpet bomb them with letters begging them to keep it. The production values and scripts of the third season were bare bones, so that was that.

[Number9Dream]

158. I was 16, and I remember that the streets of our little town were deserted.

We were watching on TV, but at one point had to run from one house to another. The streets were deserted.

[OldEurope]

159. Yes, I did.

I was eleven years old and was allowed to watch tv all day and night long.
As a child, my father had been a fan of Jules Verne who described a journey to the moon. He didn't want that we notice, but I saw him crying when they arrived.
My heritage from my father is the never ending curiosity about what we as human beings can achieve.

[Iggo]

160. Yep. Won't see it today, though. I've got DirecTV.

[sarge43]

162. 26 at the time

Stationed at a comm site right outside of London.

One of the most thrilling moments of my life, watching fellow human beings walk on another world.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

164. yep, teenager

Had my model of the command module and the LEM close at hand. Marked the date on my "Man In Space" Doubleday paperback.

[ColesCountyDem]

166. I was 11. I also saw the launch from a pontoon boat in the Indian River. n/t

[edhopper]

167. That is very, very cool!

[ColesCountyDem]

194. It was awesome!

A very close childhood friend of my parents, my 'Uncle Ken', was a tech writer for Grumman and wrote the 'operator's manual' for the L.E.M. . His housemate had a pontoon boat and invited us all to join him in watching Apollo 11's liftoff. The visual was incredible-- better than even the best TV coverage-- but what was even more incredible was the sound and the shock wave: we could feel it in our bones, so to speak. If I live to be 100, I will never forget that incredible morning!

[BumRushDaShow]

168. I was 7

Me and one of my younger sisters (the other younger sister - the youngest was only 2) got called down by dad to watch (we were in bed hours before) and I remember sitting on the steps looking at the living room TV.

If anything, it was always a constant subject of discussion in school and at least one time that I recall, we watched an Apollo "moon shot" on the TV at school if it happened during school hours. I also remember we had the Nat Geo issue with the moon map and a plastic record (I may still have the issue although the record may not be in there anymore) -

[ChazII]

169. I was 9 years old. n/t

[SergeStorms]

171. I was a rowdy 20 year old.

I was a 20 year old hippie, all piss and vinegar, drug addled to the max, but I sat in awe watching that first step taken on the moon. I was enthralled by the space program in my younger years, and I still am today. I never miss a chance to watch the ISS fly overhead at night.

[Niagara]

172. Sadly no

I was many years late for this historical event. My mother was in high school at the time.

[stuffmatters]

173. My college boyfriend & I were bumming around & in Paris. Watched on a tv in a store window.

[yellowdogintexas]

175. I was almost 21, in college

taking a summer school class to finish up my degree.

I also watched on a dinky black and white TV like a 12 inch maybe. It could have been smaller

It was breathtaking and amazing and I was terrified something would happen.

Later on when Apollo 13 was happening, the bank where I worked had the continuous coverage on the PA so we and all the customers could hear. When they knew they were safe the whole room cheered.

[SallyHemmings]

176. I was 7

Dad called us to the our black and white TV to watch. The picture was grainy. Oh the rabbit ears.
It was time when we only had one TV. Go figure.


Being 7 I knew it was important but not how important.



By the way, I am a seasoned fart.

[Runningdawg]

177. No I heard it

I was 9, at a tent revival, getting eaten alive by mosquitos. I was secretly listening on my transistor radio, dreaming of being a scientist, while the adults prayed all night that God would forgive mankind for walking on the moon.

[krispos42]

178. I was -7 years old

Sadly, I did not get to see this live. I am hoping to see three things in my lifetime:

The return to the Moon (first woman on the Moon) in glorious HD TV
The first human on Mars
The impeachment and removal from office of Dolt45.

[kwijybo]

179. I was 6

And my youngest sister spoiled it. We were watching the replay of it on Saturday morning, on the TV downstairs. I was entranced, my older sister (10) was bored, and the younger sister was there. It sort of went like this:
TV: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap..."
Sister: "I swallow my barret!!! I swallow my barret!!!"
Mom: "What are you doing to your little sister!!!" (It was always my fault, for some reason)
Followed by an immediate trip to the ER, X-rays, surgery, etc.


My great-uncle was involved, as I understand it, with one of the communications stations in the Pacific.

[H2O Man]

180. Recommended.

I remember it. I find it stranger that was 50 years ago, than I did that there were men on the moon at that time.

[ThoughtCriminal]

181. Dad was a NASA engineer

He was working for the Army on rockets for years before NASA was created. My earliest memories were trips to Cocoa Beach for launches in the early 60s. We did not make the trip for Apollo 11, but I did get to see one of the Saturn V launches (Apollo 15).

Let me tell you, there is nothing quite like being there - to feel every molecule in your body vibrate from the sound of a rocket taking men to the Moon.

[misanthrope]

191. I'm seriously envious

you got to witness a Saturn V launch.

[MasonDreams]

182. Yes, it was an intense week with three victories

My father was a physicist with Boeing working on that giant leap. I was only 8, but it was a big relief (victory) when the blast off worked (no disaster explosion). Everything was purrrfect until the scary panic just before " the Eagle has landed". After the unreal historical gargantuan OMG !!! with the small step, Uncle Walter Cronkite's chuckle, and the flag plant. Just wow, the whole world is different now. But, would the lander fire back up? Could they dock with the command module? would they burn up in reentry? Would they all soon die from radiation poisoning? A random rock hurling through space may bust a hole that would kill'em.
I remember thinking, even if they don't make it back, it still happened, and that we at least proved that it could be done
Then that hatch opened and it was all right. ALL victory. Being 8yrs old and looking into the future at that time was unbelievably good

[ellie]

183. No, I was 4

and I don't remember it but space exploration is so cool!

[NoPasaran]

184. I was thirteen at the time

Glued to our black and white TV set. It was amazing to watch the CBS special last week and see that coverage in color.

I guess I was just the right age to grow up with the Space Race, starting with Captain Kangaroo being pre-empted some mornings for the Mercury launches.

[ornotna]

185. Yes

Will never forget it.

Man on the Moon

[Schmice3]

186. 17 in 1969

I was a "space fan" from the days of Project Mercury, so when the launch, the flight, the landing and return happened I was a limp rag. The family gathered around the TV and just watched. I'd go outside to look at the moon and come back to watch more as Walter Cronkite talked us through it. Crime was down during that mission especially residential burglaries. My brother went to the movies to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was a Columbus-like accomplishment from which we as earthlings derived a sense of pride. I'm now waiting for else as something spectacular. Hopefully in my lifetime and hopefully before dementia.

[Ahpook]

187. Didn't happen

Stanley Kubrick was hired to fake the walk in a studio

The holocaust was fake

The planes that were hijacked actually shot missiles at the towers during 9/11

I could go on

[FailureToCommunicate]

188. This "old fart" was 17 and trying not to be

shipped off to Vietnam. It was hard to like or appreciate ANYTHING the US government was doing but that event helped for a while.
I was just at a NASA exhibit and they had a copy of the book, signed by many of those brave astronauts, that inspired all early pioneers of the space program: Jules Verne’s From Earth to the Moon.

[MFGsunny]

189. YES absolutely. One of those moments you remember so vividly, even as to where we were! n/t

[SunSeeker]

190. Yes, my whole family was huddled around our small, flickering black & white TV.

I can still picture it like it was yesterday.

[tenderfoot]

192. I remember it all happening but not much else...

I was 5 years old. lol.

[Hekate]

193. I was 21 & in college, had read sci-fi since I could read. It just seemed like where we should be...

You know? Okay, here we go. Next stop, build a base on the Moon. I had dreamed of this all my life. My teenage sister wanted to be an engineer and apply for the astronaut program.

Satellite phone service was great: in Hawai'i we had to rely on an undersea cable, so when I called my mom in California it cost me a dollar a minute, at a time when I was making about $1.25 an hour. Of course it took the phone company several years to stop charging us a buck a minute. The orbiting international space station was great. So was the space shuttle.

But were we really supposed to fill up the night sky with... satellites for tv and radio stations? Crappy commercial stuff? Were we really supposed to give up the Moon for that?

And when we gave up our US space shuttle and started bumming rides with Russia? What the hell kind of planning is that?

Sadly, I have skipped the celebrations. I feel let down. I feel betrayed. Trump's Space Farce has just been the frosting on the cake that got left out in the rain.

[RobinA]

195. My Reaction Was Different

I was 9 and my parents woke me up to watch. I was never very impressed with the whole space thing. Kinda like the Vietnam War, it had been around my whole conscious life and I considered it (at the time) background noise. I was very upset when the Apollo fire happened and I had developed a bit of a grudge against the space program because of that. I didn't like launches, because even at that age I knew if I watched enough of them I'd see one blow. Sadly, eventually one did. I was more interested in splashdown, because it meant the guys were safe, even though it was bumpy in there.

Anyway, I watched the moon walk because my parents said it was important. It was grainy and I could never understand what they were saying, but I saw it. My parents were right to force the issue. I'm far more pro-space than I was at 9 now that I understand the things I could not at 9. Watching the Apollo 11 documentary, I was surprised at how much I actually remembered. I was paying attention, even though I wasn't interested.