Tell us your Apollo 11 memories

Mankind's one giant leap is nearly 40 years old. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

[The Proud Contrarian]

Hoax!

[twell]

This reminds me of an era when our nation was proud to be Americans....there were no apologies for who we were, or where we had come from. On that day our way of life and our form of government was proven to be superior, the shining light for all the world and we as Americans were proud of it. Today, all we hear is negativity and blame America first....We have a President who flys around the world apologizing for being the leader of America...the last best hope for civilization! God how I wish we could go back to 1969.

[Sense]

I burned the milk for my hot chocolate and ruined my Mothers favorite saucepan just to see the grainy broadcast.
Ah, the price of progress.

[human too]

It seemed that the whole world stopped and held its breath for several hours that day. If you were within walking distance of a television, your eyes were glued to the set. The video technology was so primitive-- the image was black-and-white, and so contrasty that it was barely recognizable, but we knew that we were watching live video from...the...freakin'...MOON!! ! And the guys who truly (not just on TV, but truly) went where no man had gone before, were Americans.

Today, Space Shuttle launches are so routine I'm not sure they even interrupt the commercials for them anymore. But on July 20, 1969, nothing else seemed to matter. We were all there. We prayed. We wept. We cheered. We were united, if only for a moment.

And to those who still try to insist it was a hoax, forget about it. Nobody's THAT good.

[Sam]

Stones!

[Margie Gunderson]

When we were in elementary grades, manned rocket launches were still a big deal. Sister Sew 'n Sew would roll out the TV and WOW! I had just finished high school in 1969 and a good friend and I went out-of-town to college freshman orientation that Apollo 11 weekend. We watched in one of the dorm common rooms and yes, it was grainy. But seeing uncle Walter Cronkite swell-up with pride was well worth it. Walter is/was so very into the whole space program.

[The Hard Truth]

Well, man walked somewhere. Those were funny times, and, at risk of sounding like one of those who wears a tinfoil hat and thinks he is getting messages through his fillings, I still wonder sometimes. . .

[Rockin John]

We were gathered around the TV to see the first steps on the moon. My Dad had purchased a lens to attach to an instamatic camera for close ups, and he took pictures of Armstrong coming down the ladder, and stepping on the moon. When Armstrong stepped on the moon, I was told to go outside and put the flag up. That was one memorable day!!

[human too]

I very highly recommend a superb documentary produced by Ron Howard, called "In the Shadow of the Moon" (I located a copy at my local video store, in the "Special Interest" section.)

The Apollo astronauts are now in their 70s and 80s, and Mr. Howard decided we'd better interview them now while we still have the chance. I couldn't tear my eyes away. Neil Armstrong himself has studiously avoided the spotlight ever since his ride on a Saturn V, but many of the other astronauts were very gracious and transparent about their experiences and feelings.

The astronauts themselves are aware that some people still think they faked the whole thing, and it irks them. As one of them said, "Why would we go to the trouble to fake it SIX TIMES??" (Twelve astronauts in all have left their boot prints in the lunar dust.) To which I would add, at this stage in life, they've got nothing left to gain by maintaining the hoax. Any one of them could become an instant millionaire (talk show circuit, book deals, etc.) just by spilling the beans. The hoax theory is an interesting one, but it collapses under its own weight when subjected to scrutiny.

[JohnJ]

I remember the stoners of that time demanding that the the United States staged this whole thing and filmed it all in a warehouse in Arizona.

We now have those same people writing our laws in Washington.

[Monk]

I was walking behind a dump truck shoveling blacktop.
We had a little transistor radio hanging from the box.
It was hotter than hell. We said a few cuss words of amazement and kept shoveling blacktop.

A good friend of mine was in a foxhole in Vietnam- the
Central Highlands. He says he thought he was also on the moon...

[Labratt]

They were greeted by Alice Kramden. She had already been up there for years.

[Bob the Bilderberg]

It was actually July 21st already, where I was, in Holy Loch Scotland. It was late at night and I was up on the tender ship trying to get a piece of electronic test equipment fixed. The electronics repair shop had a TV on but we were so isolated from the rest of the world that I had no idea why it was on or what they were watching. I looked up at it just as Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the moon. It was also my 20th birthday. Happy birthday to me.

[Labratt]

I love the Shuttle, and actually went to Fla in February to see the launch. Unfortunalely it was delayed, and we had to settle for touring the Kennedy Space Center. The most interesting part of the tour by far was the Apollo exhibit. I think that going to the moon was Man's greatest accomplishment.

[Karl King]

The Proud Contrarian wrote:

Hoax!

Yer dingdangy right. It WAS a HOAX. It is fitting that you were the first person to post on this topix, too.:)

See the movie that was inspired by this hoax. It was "CAPRICORN ONE," an utterly fantastic movie.:) OJ Simpson plays on of the three "astronauts" who don't go to another planet.:) He is a hoot. He has very few lines because he is probably too dumb to recall dialogue. But he mimes his death scene pretty well.

BTW, is he still alive in jail? If so, it's a frigging miracle!.:)

[Labratt]

Karl King wrote:

<quoted text>
Yer dingdangy right. It WAS a HOAX. It is fitting that you were the first person to post on this topix, too.:)
See the movie that was inspired by this hoax. It was "CAPRICORN ONE," an utterly fantastic movie.:) OJ Simpson plays on of the three "astronauts" who don't go to another planet.:) He is a hoot. He has very few lines because he is probably too dumb to recall dialogue. But he mimes his death scene pretty well.
BTW, is he still alive in jail? If so, it's a frigging miracle!.:)

The hoax stuff is pure BS, but I still remember James Brolin eating the rattlesnake. LOL thanks for the chuckle.

[LEsider]

Didn't this happen about 3:30 in the afternoon central time?

[Karl King]

Labratt wrote:

<quoted text>
The hoax stuff is pure BS, but I still remember James Brolin eating the rattlesnake. LOL thanks for the chuckle.

I wrote a longish reply to you but topix cut it off.

See! Conspiracy. It was a hoax and I was telling you further evidence. And lots of movie talk because I know a lot about the production of that movie.

But topix cut me off.

[Labratt]

Karl King wrote:

<quoted text>
I wrote a longish reply to you but topix cut it off.
See! Conspiracy. It was a hoax and I was telling you further evidence. And lots of movie talk because I know a lot about the production of that movie.
But topix cut me off.

Cool, I'll google it.

[Karl King]

Having recovered somewhat from topix cutting me off, here's the jist & paraphrase of an aria that Hal Holbrook was given to tell the astronaut trio what happened. I don't have his exact aria here.

"It seems the government took too low a bid. You three would have been fried to a crisp because the heat shield collapsed."

Then after Hal left, one of the trio said, "We're dead." {Gad! Just one terse line said at the right time!}

I'll have more short intel later since topix likes to cut off any longish intelligent replies.