1969

[gurdonark]

I remember the day when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I was ten years old at the time. The years leading up to the moonwalk had progressively involved more impressive feats of space flight. The Gemini spacewalks had been exciting. Apollo 8 had previously circled the moon without landing. I thought to myself at the time of Apollo 8 how exciting and yet what a longing one must have, to be one of those who circle the moon, but do not get to land upon it.

The moonwalk took place some time after midnight on a July morning. We did not have cable television in our town in those days, so we had to rely on imperfect reception by antenna from the television stations eighty miles away. We sat around the television and watched scenes shot from a camera outside the "lunar module". The cameras filmed in black and white, and the whole effect was somewhat washed out. The reception was not particularly good. My childish memory tells me that the whole production was interminably long, and could have been much better stage-managed.

Eventually, Neil Armstrong came out of the lunar module and began to climb down the steps towards the ground. He took it fairly slowly, as I recall. As he hit the last step, he said the pre-prepared words "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". The words sounded a bit canned and rehearsed, but the step onto the lunar surface was spontaneous and free. Soon we could see that people could fly thousands upon thousands of miles to the moon, and stroll it as if it were the Arizona desert. The low gravity gave a lilting, exotic spring to his step. We saw moon dust being kicked up that dawn.

This was a heady time, when we drank an orange drink called Tang because it was what the astronauts drank, and we ate a stick candy called Space Food Sticks, because they were what the astronauts supposedly ate. We wore Red Ball Jet
tennis shoes, because they made one run faster, and jump higher. We played with a spaceman called Matt Mattel, who wandered about in a perpetual lunar suit. We watched Lost in Space and Star Trek on television, either in original issue or in re-run.

When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, nothing in our lives really changed. It was time of incredible social turbulence in our country, and a time of Cold War overseas. It was a time of hot war in Vietnam. But when we watched Mr. Armstrong walk on the moon, it seemed, just for a moment, that human endeavor could make anything possible, and that people could do things about which writers had dreamed in fantasy novels.

Comments

[gregwest98.livejournal.com]

I remember those days too. That particular summer was one of the best in my living memory; I learned to ride my bike that summer. I was completely consumed by the space program. It was not just that peole *could* do things about which writers had dreamed, we *did* do those things. And the writers took off from there and dreamed up all the more exquisite fantasies. Few realize how many other projects were active at that time also - anyone with any interest in space exploration and/or high-technology (not computers per se either) could find gainful employment that was both job and hobby. I knew then I wanted to be a rocket scientist.

I was never bored with the coverage nor with Walter Cronkite. It was slow but it was *real*. Not like the overly scripted stuff we are all probably watching this morning. I ignored everything else except my bike and my friends in the neighborhood at the top of the hill on Cleveland Avenue with whom I biked and swam in the 1 foot deep wading pools that was all any of us had. Dad would fill up his gas tank at the Gulf station where they would give you a paper sheet from which you could punch out the pieces of a lunar module and assemble them. I still have that souvenir book "We Came In Peace" also sold at Gulf.

It was the golden age of space exploration and it was all downhill from there in many ways.

[i.livejournal.com]

yesterday Buzz Aldrin (who lived in the town i grew up in) punched some guy in the nose who wanted him to swear on a bible that the moon landing actually happened.

[scott-m.livejournal.com]

I entered kindergarten in 1970, a little over a year after the first moon landing. I
remember Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, and Viking from elementary school. That all was
exciting stuff that I read about with gusto in my Weekly Reader school magazine
and in photocopied magazine articles my mother would bring home from work to
me. In junior high I remember watching the first Space Shuttle flights on TV and
in high school speech class, my first speech of the year was on Voyager. I was a
junior in college when we lost Challenger. I came in from class, turned on my little
black-and-white TV and instead of the game show I was expecting, I found myself
watching live coverage from Florida. I thought immediately that something must
have gone wrong-- Space Shuttle launches are never covered live anymore. In
short order, a replay proved my assumption to be correct.

It still strikes me as odd that space travel died with Apollo and space exploration
didn't thrive much beyond that. Rather than a turning point in the story of human
civilization, it turned out to be a footnote in its chapter on the Cold War. Just too
expensive, I guess. It's a shame, though-- seeing what's out there gave us
perspective into appreciating our own Big Blue Marble (to steal a pop culture
reference from the era), and the variety of plants, animals, and people who share
a dependence on it. On September 11, 2002, when Americans are remembering (or
more likely, have never stopped feeling) the pain from that act of murderous hatred
so heinous that it can't be named-- just referred to by its date, while at the same
time debating whether we should initiate a war to remove a despot who might
almost be gaining control of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons but who
definitely happens to control vast amounts of oil, we could use a reminder of how
we all live on this fragile planet together.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I think the discovery of confirmable planets indicates we are just getting going good. I think a much stronger unmanned program is called for today.

Those were glorious times, though! Have you seen The Dish? It's your kinda movie.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I saw that! Buzz Aldrin has had a very surreal life since Apollo 11.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I'd love to recapture that sense of the possibilities of endeavor and technology, and apply that sense to a host of the world's problems today.

Technology does not save us, but it has its uses.

Re:

[gregwest98.livejournal.com]

In terms of knowledge gained, yes we are still making great progress. I was only thinking of all the glorious projects that employed so many of us (not me because I was 11 at the time - I mean us scientists and engineers) that have gone away because of lack of funding.

Admittedly, some of them were pretty ludicrous but there were many that were good that were never followed up.

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

Yeah? well I was 16 going on 17 and at the beach for the summer. I was sitting in the lobby of the Charles Hotel where my gay buddy, Bill Vickers, was living...and we watched it on TV. Summer of '69--also the best summer of my life. (wish I'd gotten to Woodstock)

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

At the Charles Hotel by the beach...now that's picturesque!

1969 was a good year for me, too, but perhaps not as good as it might have been for a teen.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Yes. Although a return to the "anything NASA wants, NASA gets" days would not be in order, I wish we did a bit more sensible stuff in this line.

Re:

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

Actually, I forgot, it was the Prince Charles.

[sortofkindof.livejournal.com]

This was a heady time, when we drank an orange drink called Tang because it was what the astronauts drank, and we ate a stick candy called Space Food Sticks, because they were what the astronauts supposedly ate.

I like this post.

:)

[nancyjane.livejournal.com]

summer of 69, i was just adopted. getting used to my parents and i suppose and they were getting used to me. they'd had my brother for 2.5 years.

of course i don't remember seeing the landing. the style of things, throughout the 70s, however, i do remember, and that they were heavily influenced by space exploration.

we had a mattel space guy !! didn't know his name was matt though... i believe he got pummelled regularly by some rock'm sock'm robots... he should have learned to stay out of the ring.

i still drink tang. (although it seems very hard to find lately) not for the wonderful taste but it does have an emotional appeal. i married an astronomy major who drank/drinks it religiously every morning. when i met ted, tang and bologna sandwiches were practically all he'd eat, and the wendy's big classic.

i do remember quite a lot of rocket imagery being a big thing on mtv though, as if having a commercial-free music station was analogous in spirit to the moon landing. for the last 15 years i dont think a week has gone by that i haven't seen at least one episode of a star trek series, most weeks i see between 5 and 10. i suppose i'm an age where my whole life i could take that stuff for granted. i still love it though.

it would have been wonderful to have that memory, of seeing the moon landing, and at some point evaluating its meaning, from events before, and after. but then again its also been nice growing up always believing in it

Re: :)

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I like Tang, too. I wonder why I have not had any, in years! thanks for commenting :)