Where were you on July 20, 1969?

[Zemke Fan]

Okay, I realize that this thread won't work for a lot of you, but for those of us who can remember...

Where were you and what were you doing 40 years ago when Neil and Buzz drifted slowly down onto the Sea of Tranquility in that Rube-Goldbergesque lunar lander?

I was 16 years old. Studying chemistry at the Phillips Exeter Academy. My great uncle Raymond (one of my three mentors) had paid to send this Idaho farm boy to New Hampshire for a summer of study and awakening.

I saw the landing on a TV in the home of one of my summer chums, a "townie" who befriended the kid with short hair and big ears. I don't remember much about the experience (sad to say), except an elation that we'd finally slipped the surly bonds of earth...

So, old-timers? Where were you on July 20, 1969?

(The youngsters can ask their parents. )

 

[Doctor Strange]

I was 14 years old, at a sleepaway camp in Great Barrington, Mass. We watched the broadcast in my bunk on a tiny little 9" b/w TV with terrible antenna reception, pretty much taking it on faith that the blurry image was coming from the Moon...

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I was seven and at my grandparents for the summer. I remember my grandmother saying he was going to sink down into the surface when he stepped off. I had to explain to them that the moon was a hard rock with a thin powdery surface based upon the Surveyor missions. I was really into space exploration because my dad was an engineer working for a NASA contractor at the time. Other kids had baseball players on their walls, I had astronaut photos.

 

[December]

I asked my Dad about this a few years ago.

He was 8 at the time and really into space so he was really excited about it all!

 

[BellyTank]

4 years old, Auckland, New Zealand.


B
T

 

[JohnnyGringo]

I was a wide-eyed 10 year old watching the Apollo landing at my grandparents house. I was thoroughly engulfed-as much as a ten year old could be-with all things space. How amazing it was just a few years ago to stand in the Smithsonian and see the spacesuits actually worn on that moon mission, along with other Apollo 11 treasures...

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was six, and sat in front of the TV the whole day -- that afternoon during the ballgame it was announced that the landing had safely occured, and the crowd and players on the field reacted accordingly. Then that night, I stayed up the latest I had ever stayed up to watch the first steps.

My mother didn't care about any of it, and went to bed at 8:30. "Wake me up if anything bad happens," she said.

I too was at the Smithsonian recently, and reviewed the Apollo artifacts. The ones that struck me most were the really mundane ones -- of all things, they showed Michael Collins' shaving kit, complete with half-squeezed tube of Old Spice shaving cream. "That must've smelled real annoying to the other two after three days in close quarters," was my thought.

 

[Inky]

I was also glued to the TV all day, as a wide-eyed nine year old.

On a recent visit to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, there was a small display of moon rocks and other lunar artifacts. As always, I love that stuff!

 

[scotrace]

Also watching the landing at my grandparent's house. Grandpa was born in 1898, so he was pretty astonished.

 

[David V]

I was 14 years old, at a sleepaway camp in Great Barrington, Mass. We watched the broadcast in my bunk on a tiny little 9" b/w TV with terrible antenna reception, pretty much taking it on faith that the blurry image was coming from the Moon...

LOL! I was at my older, married, cousins home watching on a big council TV and the image was not much better.

Great memory from one of the first moon landings was when one of the tv cameras was giving them trouble. One of the astronauts was being walk-through a fix that wasn't working. It was noted by the TV newsman at the time (might have been Cronkite) that like any typical American man when the TV won't work, the astronaut gave it a couple of smacks on the side with the palm of his hand as if to knock the tubes back in place.

 

[LaMedicine]

I was a second year pre med student at that time. I watched it on TV at home on a lazy summer afternoon.

 

[MisterCairo]

Just over two years old at the time, and annoyed because my sister's birth the month before, in fact, on my birthday (she was due in July), made me miss out on a party! Her name is Dianne because of her expected July birthdate, and Diana is the goddess of the moon.

No memories of the landing, of course!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I personally was no-where yet....but some of my current co-workers were very busy.....


Here is a lovely LA times story about bits and pieces of them.......be sure to look at the pictures....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-apollo19-2009jul19,0,4108254.story

 

[Foofoogal]

I was 12 and living in El Paso Texas. Now I have told my age. :eusa_doh:
I basically do not remember it. Having too much fun I guess as a kid.
My brother has always thought it was a conspiracy like others and noone did this. Heard this morning something about a flag waving and no breezes on the Moon. Nasa said it was the astronauts. lol

 

[Paisley]

I was an infant at the time, so of course I have no memory of the event. But my father said that one of his teachers once told him that people would never be able to get to the moon.

 

[DutchIndo]

I can still remember, I was out in the front yard playing (11 years old). My Pop called me from the house to come in and watch it on TV. I remember being torn between playing and watching the Astronauts. I came in watched it for a minute then went out to play. My Pop who worked in Seal Beach showed me where they made some of the Booster Engines. The Building is still there last time I checked. They would occassionally have the big sliding doors open. The booster a few stories high would be all gleaming white.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I can still remember, I was out in the front yard playing (11 years old). My Pop called me from the house to come in and watch it on TV. I remember being torn between playing and watching the Astronauts. I came in watched it for a minute then went out to play. My Pop who worked in Seal Beach showed me where they made some of the Booster Engines. The Building is still there last time I checked. They would occassionally have the big sliding doors open. The booster a few stories high would be all gleaming white.

Its still there.....


D...who works for the company that it is North American became a part of and works 5 min down the road from there

 

[Atticus Finch]

I was 13 that summer.

After WWII and up until the mid-fifties, my father was an engineer employed by NACA---later NASA---at Langley Field, Virginia. He was there during the Space Program's very early days and he had chance to meet some of the program's early characters, including a couple of guys who would later become astronauts. Needless to say he, and the rest my family, were pretty excited about the moon landing.

I remember watching the TV coverage all day and into the night, and being fascinated with Dad's livingroom narration about this technical detail or that. It was a great time to be a kid!

AF

 

[tempestbella42]

because of the time differance it was 0256 on the 21st July 1969

i wqas only 4yrs old but remember the day vaguly....we had a lady visit about that time...she had a navy uniform on and i remember being woke to the sound of my new baby sister.....:eusa_clap
As special a day it was for the world it was more so for me as over the yrs through many bad times (unfortunatly more than good times)ive learnt how special she is and lucky i am to have her as my sister!
she 40 tomorrow and maintains she lives on her own planet!! could oit be the moons influence!

 

[Widebrim]

The family gathered in front of the newly-purchased color TV and watched it for quite a while. The pictures and audio were fairly clear considering everything involved (perhaps because my father had earlier constructed a bamboo-supported mega antenna on the roof in order to pick up the first Super Bowl). As a typical young boy, I was enthralled with everything "space," and understood the implications of what I was seeing. I recall saying, either audibly or in my head, "We did it!"