On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced his support for the Apollo program as part of a special address to a joint session of Congress:
"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
He later reiterated that support with his unforgettable New England accent:
"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."
John F. Kennedy was destined to never see the what he words brought about - but I did. That goal was met on July 20, 1969 by the landing of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, with Michael Collins orbiting above during the Apollo 11 mission.
I remember being at the house down at the shore - it was very late at night - and way past my bedtime - but my mother knew I was an Astronaut at heart - and she also knew history was in the making - so I was allowed to watch history unfold.
Aldrin: Altitude-velocity light. 3 1/2 down, 220 feet, 13 forward … forward. Coming down nicely. 200 feet, 4 1/2 down. 5 1/2 down. 5 1/2 down, 9 forward. That's good. 120 feet. 100 feet, 3 1/2 down, 9 forward. Five percent. Okay. 75 feet. There's looking good. Down a half, 6 forward.
Mission control: 60 seconds [of fuel remaining].
Aldrin: Lights on ... Down 2 1/2. Forward. Forward. Good. 40 feet, down 2 1/2. Kicking up some dust. 30 feet, 2 1/2 down. Faint shadow. 4 forward. 4 forward. Drifting to the right a little. Okay. Down a half.
Mission Control: 30 seconds [of fuel remaining].
Armstrong: Forward drift?
Aldrin: Yes. Okay. Contact light. OK, engine stop.
Armstrong: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
Mission Control: Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.
I can still hear that "drifting to the right a little," along with the beep-peep of the telemetry announcer to this day.
"That's one small step for [static] man, one giant leap for mankind."
I was riveted to the TV with billions of other people. We had done it! We had gone to the Moon!
"Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the moon, July, 1969, A.D. We came in peace far all mankind."
- Neil Armstrong
Where has the promise of that day gone?
20 comments:
I've been into NASA and astronomy and space exploration ever since I was little. A bunch of us kids here in town had a club just for all things NASA. Even wrote to NASA and they sent us this huge package of everything imaginable...maps of stars, maps of the earth, maps of the moon....and brochure after brochure telling about the space missions and about NASA. We were in space heaven that one summer. :)
I used to put together models when I was a kid...model cars, model trucks, and I even had a model of the lunar module. Long gone now, but the memories are still there.
Where has the promise of that day gone? Good question.
Loved this blog post, Iggy. Hope you have a good day. *hugs*
Looking back on Promise is always easier than creating it now or following thru. Promise is often a margarine now. Sorry for my infinite layers of cynicism, but just answering honestly, for me.
~Mary
I was awakened for this. I remember being awakened but not really the event - weird huh! But I DID see it!
Perfect post. I loved all of the space exploration stuff we learned in and out of school and loved my trip to Cape Canaveral in 1988. Which reminds me...I want to go back to the Christa McAuliff Planetarium in Concord. I'm sure they have added a lot more cool stuff to look at there.
Great post. That day had to have been amazing.
It really must have been amazing to be able to see those events as they unfolded.
I of course was at our "summer place" A man had brough a small TV and plugged it in with lines of extension cords to the bathrooms they had up there because this was when ppl really camped. He had about 30 teenagers gathered around his TV watching this with him. It is nice to say..I remember history in the making... I still wonder sometimes why we never have gone back..if we really landed at all...(I'm a nay sayer..sorry)
I to remember this day (I be old LOL) I was in junior school and about 11ish, our whole school gathered in the school hall, about 250 kids.... and there on the stage was one little black and white telly LMFAO hahahahaha.... But I was one of the lucky ones and was near the front....
See what all those youngsters like LadyStyX have missed out on being so young...... dam, I hate being old LMFAO
Iggy, are you SURE you're old enough to remember? lol
x
Emm Marmite..your not old..I was a teenager when this happened..so I'm older LOL
I remember my sister was glued to the TV during all the coverage; she was more into space than I was. It is interesting to wonder where the promise went; people could probably write tons of books about what went wrong......have my own thought......
I like Mary's comment (she's a neat lady)
betty
I was 18 and we were all glued to the screen in our living room. And didn't you go outside and try to see them on the moon--hehe! It all looked so grainy and choppy--pretend--as they bounced slowly on the surface like Pillsbury dough boys. We couldn't believe it was real. A man on the moon!
What happened? I guess we have sent out unmanned ships (farther) and must have decided to stick to cluttering up our own atmosphere with satellites and trash. Remember when we thought many people would be commonly living on space stations by now?
OK i was 3 years old so all I know about this is in the history books. Your post had me riveted though.
Love your blog header.
I was riveted to our green curved screen tv. A lot has happened since that day - but just not what was promised.
And people say that was all done on a green screen, Hollywood magic.
We have made great strides, but we still have a long way to go.
Great, great post.
Did you ever watch the movie, Space Camp? It's not a good movie, but, oh man, did I ever want to be an astronaut and accidentally go to the moon after seeing that.
I was living in portland, oregon and my 2 boys were 4 and 3...I went down and paid $600 for a color tv..which was just way too much money...but I wanted the boys to see everything as vividly as possible...I remember telling them how big this was..how important a day in history and they were there to see it...might as well, let them watch cartoons...they don't remember it at all.sigh*
but I do...and I was just blown away...still am..the idea that we went to the moon and walked on it..wow..
I wish I was old enough to have seen it. It must have been amazing to watch.
I love this post, it took me right back to that night. I can remember going out in the yard with my dad and looking up at the moon and my dad asking if I could see anything.
I think being a kid at that time and getting to feel the excitement of it all was a special gift.
I loved the movie "Space Camp"! I've been to the actual Space Camp site in Huntsville, Alabama at the US Space and Rocket Museum. Awesome site to see.
Unfortunately, I don't remember that day, I was not quite 3 months old, lol.
Interesting post, since I was just reading about how the original footage of the moon landing had been lost, and how NASA is having copies digitally cleaned up for the anniversary.
And we just sent an unmanned rocket to the moon a couple months ago, that is supposed to check for evidence of ice (?) so we know if there is any water on the moon, which I guess would lead to us colonizing the moon. We can't even take care of Earth, so let's go to the moon and ruin that too!
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