Where were you when Apollo 11 landed?

[M54 (Molly)]

[quote=astroron;421434]

Originally Posted by Paddy

Hi Molly and welcome! Like the avatar BTW[/QUOTE
Ditto
I was just about to say the same
I also think your moniker is also clever

Thanks astroron and Paddy,
Re the moniker: As you probably worked out I was born in '54, and my star sign is actually Sagittarius (not that I follow astrology by the way), so it kind of fit like a glove.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Great thread Merlin.

Like most others we were sent home, but I nearly missed it. There was a huge tree down the back bush growing at the edge of a really really reaaaaly steep slope. The 1" sisal rope (damn it was scratchy ) went over the first branch about 40 feet up. The rope had a foot loop at the end but you could sit in it ( dad had to use a shanghai with a sinker and fishing line to get the rope up there. It was a HUGE old Pink Stringybark, but that tree is a whole other story ) and when you swung out you felt like you were really flying. You felt miles in the air. I was pretending I was in the Apollo 11 ship swinging out through space.

It was only when my mum screamed out to me that I made it back just as Armstrong was coming down the ladder. I remember it so clearly. It was amazing. Next Xmas Mum and Dad.....oops ....Santa bought me my first telescope.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Originally Posted by BerrieK

Hmmnn... on 21st July 1969 I was not yet conceived...that happened approx 4 weeks after!

Hmmmmm, strange BerrieK, I too was born almost EXACTLY 9 months after the 21st July 1969.....hmmmmmm.

Does this mean I am a Lunartik? or just a product of the Space Race? I am surprised I am not called Velcro or Lem etc.

Funny, I never thought of this before.

That's one small step for my Dad, one giant leap for me.



Cheers

Chris

[acropolite (Phil)]

I was at Launceston matriculation college, classes were suspended wand we watched a b&W tele in one of the lecture rooms. It was a very memorable time, I could never understand why, on subsequent missions, coverage was reduced by the media.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

I was 6yo and in 1st grade. Sat on the floor of the school library opf Stockdale Rd Primary School in Traralgon watching it with whole lot of other kids and their teachers on a tiny little BW tv. Remember I wasn't really sure what the fuss was about, didn't really see the difference between a man ON the moon and a man IN the moon, and everyone knew there was a man IN the moon, at least thats how a 6yo saw it!
I also remember that my teacher was very excited!

[gary]

Originally Posted by acropolite

It was a very memorable time, I could never understand why, on subsequent missions, coverage was reduced by the media.

Hi Phil,

Media coverage of subsequent Apollo missions, with the exception of 13 and
only then after the cryogenic oxygen tank rupture event, was appalling.

Though there is no doubt, as far as the broad viewing public was concerned,
that anything after Apollo 11 could only be an anti-climax, nevertheless none
of the Australian TV channels would provide live coverage from Apollo 14 and
onwards.

In my own personal opinion, one of the reasons why viewing interest dropped can
be traced back to the early parts of the Apollo 12 walk. There was live
television coverage up to the point when Alan Bean, whilst moving the
camera, accidentally pointed it at the Sun and burnt out the videocon tube.
Then that was it. Nothing to see on television so people switched off.

So by the time Apollo 13 rolled around, the limited attention span of
the broader viewing public was lost and the television stations ran
their regular programming instead.

The demise of the general publics' interest in Apollo, particularly within
the United States, was more complex than that and has been well documented
by others. We all know that events back on Earth such as Vietnam,
the civil rights movement and poverty, were held by many to be far more pressing
problems.

However, I have often wondered if the camera had not burnt out on 12,
whether live coverage of subsequent Apollo missions might have continued
by the broadcasters.

Best Regards

Gary

[Robert9 (Robert)]

ChrisP9
Near 70 I may be, but I would hate to be thought of as a "Grumpy Old Man". I have a "joie de vie" that keeps me active and young at heart. (Not a second childhood either!)
Certainly things look bad globally at the moment, but I try not to worry too much about it although my hard won nest-egg has dwindled substantially. There is nothing I can do about it, and worrying won't help. Times have changed, generally I think for the better, but everything has its ups and downs.
So endeth the sermon.
Robert

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Originally Posted by gary

Hi Phil,
The demise of the general publics' interest in Apollo, particularly within
the United States, was more complex than that and has been well documented
by others. We all know that events back on Earth such as Vietnam,
the civil rights movement and poverty, were held by many to be far more pressing
problems.

However, I have often wondered if the camera had not burnt out on 12,
whether live coverage of subsequent Apollo missions might have continued
by the broadcasters.

Best Regards

Gary

News and information was still available but it was no longer "front page" stuff...I think all of the things listed contributed but I also think that expectations had been so built up for the future that the reality could never have lived up to the expectation...as noted earlier the speed of "progress" from the Wright Brothers to NASA was astonishingly quick...after the first landing/return the moon shots looked "too easy" and when there was not a bigger splashier next trick, the masses got bored. Until Apollo 12, each new launch got NASA closer to the moon landing...for those after 11 the feeling may have become we've already seen people walk on the moon and come back yawn...

But I still loved every minute of it!

I attended Purdue University, alma mater of the first person (Neil A.) on the moon and the most recent (Eugene C.) and a whole bunch of other Astronauts. A couple of years ago the Armstrong Building was opened on campus and we happened to be back in the states and were able to attend the cermony with my kids...it was pretty cool to see so many Astronauts (and Purdue Alumni) at one place. Nasa had a big traveling display and they gave out pins and patches I was so excited by it and so were my kids it was pretty cool...

[gary]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your post and perspective from being within the U.S. at the time.

Originally Posted by wavelandscott

News and information was still available but it was no longer "front page" stuff...

Do you have any recollection of whether the 14 to 17 missions had any
live coverage of the walks on any of the US networks at all? In other words,
if you really wanted to tune in and watch, was it possible?

As you can appreciate having lived here in Australia, there were are a limited
number of broadcasters and television channels here and they provided minimal
coverage.

I think all of the things listed contributed but I also think that expectations had been so built up for the future that the reality could never have lived up to the expectation...as noted earlier the speed of "progress" from the Wright Brothers to NASA was astonishingly quick...after the first landing/return the moon shots looked "too easy" and when there was not a bigger splashier next trick, the masses got bored. Until Apollo 12, each new launch got NASA closer to the moon landing...for those after 11 the feeling may have become we've already seen people walk on the moon and come back yawn...

Absolutely! It's "15 minutes of fame" seemed to have been well and truly used up
as far as the broader public and media were concerned.

I attended Purdue University, alma mater of the first person (Neil A.) on the moon and the most recent (Eugene C.) and a whole bunch of other Astronauts. A couple of years ago the Armstrong Building was opened on campus and we happened to be back in the states and were able to attend the cermony with my kids...it was pretty cool to see so many Astronauts (and Purdue Alumni) at one place. Nasa had a big traveling display and they gave out pins and patches I was so excited by it and so were my kids it was pretty cool...

Fabulous story and I can well imagine they must have a pretty amazing
aeronautical and astronautical engineering faculty there with such a rich legacy
of alumni.

Best Regards

Gary

[leon]

Have a look at the movie, "The Dish", my favorite movie of all time I have played it to death.

Leon

[BerrieK]

Originally Posted by Screwdriverone

I too was born almost EXACTLY 9 months after the 21st July 1969.....hmmmmmm.


Chris

I guess your parents didn't have a TV at that stage then.

[avandonk]

Originally Posted by erick

I only had 1k memory in my PDP8 a few years later - jealous!

I liked putting in 100% thrust, regardless of the start conditions. It would stop, think while the lights would flash, then it would tell you the maximum altitude reached and the impact velocity, after you ran out of fuel and finally slowed down and returned to an almighty crash on the surface! I was always fairly destructive!

I just remembered that the computer would also estimate the size of crater that you would make on impact!

Bert

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Originally Posted by gary

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your post and perspective from being within the U.S. at the time.



Do you have any recollection of whether the 14 to 17 missions had any
live coverage of the walks on any of the US networks at all? In other words,
if you really wanted to tune in and watch, was it possible?

As you can appreciate having lived here in Australia, there were are a limited
number of broadcasters and television channels here and they provided minimal
coverage.



Absolutely! It's "15 minutes of fame" seemed to have been well and truly used up
as far as the broader public and media were concerned.



Fabulous story and I can well imagine they must have a pretty amazing
aeronautical and astronautical engineering faculty there with such a rich legacy
of alumni.

Best Regards

Gary

My memory of the program is colored by my interest (casual not fanatical) so it is hard to speak of my accuracy in remembering from the actual time or what I've seen and learned later. I lived in rural Indiana and depending on the weather and which direction our antennae was turned (imagine one person outside turning the mounting pipe and some one inside hollering "a little more North"), we could get 5 or 6 channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Channel 4 local Independant, PBS "usually", and sometimes another "Independent") so there was not much difference in the coverage available...It is hard to remember how "primitive" information flow was then and any news from the "outside" (outside being our small community) was also limited and "filtered" for the unwashed masses.

Our standard was CBS and Walter Cronkite...From memory there would always be a segment on the news for launch and landing (at least excerpted) and recovery. Usually there was also some kind of "show and tell" during the mission. Newspapers would have updates as well but they were usually no front page kind of stuff (except for launch and landing). Basically we got to see the same thing every time...

I don't recall much about Apollo 14 I think that was "the golf shot" for Sheppard but there was a bit of hullabulloo after it was made known of Ed Mitchell's ESP experiment (a little to close to "witchcraft" where I grew up for the comfort of many Church goers )

Apollo 15 had the moon buggy with a mounted TV so that made for a good "sound bite" as they drove around

Apollo 16 and 17 I don't recall so much. My recollection is that they just did variations off of the above but again the same pattern was repeated, it was shown on the news and by that time unless there was something special (launch and recovery) broadcasts were confined to the News programs.

Marathon Oil Company did a "promotion" linked with the Apollo programs...fill your tank and get an "Apollo Glass" a new one with each launch...my family did collect them all although the full sets whereabouts are a matter of secrecy at the moment.

[Analog6 (Odille)]

I would have been 16 and I remember watching it, totally enthralled, because from growing up in the country I wqs already fascinated by the night sky, but cannot for the life of me recall how I came to be at home on the day. Maybe the school let us stay home.

[Lert]

I was on shift at the OTC (remember us?) Carnarvon Satellite Comm station in WA.. We were looking after several voice/data circuits between the Carnarvon tracking station and the USA.. Saw the TV off Satellite at work. Still pretty pleased to have played a small part in history..

[space oddity]

I remember(age 9) being captivated by all of the apollo missions. At school, only a few classes were allowed to watch it live in the assembly hall. Luckily mine was one of them.I remember being absolutely thrilled to bits. Still watched it over and over on the news when I got home from school.Maybe I am some sort of astronut but seeing the moon landing of '69 live was one of the highlights of my life.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by Lert

I was on shift at the OTC (remember us?) Carnarvon Satellite Comm station in WA.. We were looking after several voice/data circuits between the Carnarvon tracking station and the USA.. Saw the TV off Satellite at work. Still pretty pleased to have played a small part in history..

How cool that would have been. Thanks for sharing I guess the merger of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission with Telecom in '92 killed it off, yeah? I was doing a fair bit with them in my day at IBM. Telstra is so pathetic nowadays in comparison with what we had in a compnay like OTC back then.

[Lert]

Thanks for the sentiments mate.. yeah, was a good outfit but eventually when the suits moved in I moved out.. and that was after 35 years of the best part of my life. No regrets mind.. It was a great time.
Seeing you are at Cooma, one of my mates (Fred) went to Cooma to work for the SMH early 80's.. Hope to catch up with him some day..

[stephenb (Stephen)]

I was propped up in front of the Pye, a few days old. Do I have to explain what a 'Pye' was?? LOL

I have a lot of archived NASA audio most of the Apollo missions. I need to work out how to share them.

Here is the Apollo 11 landing with the Flight Director on the left channel and the Air-to-Ground on the right channel. Note the famous 'fuel calls'.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=d...4e75f6e8ebb871

I am happy to put more up on Mediafire. I have all the Apollo 11 from 5 minutes before launch to splashdown with many audio people may have never heard. I understand these are public domain recordings.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by Lert

one of my mates (Fred) went to Cooma to work for the SMH early 80's.. Hope to catch up with him some day..

I proudly wear a large SMH sticker on the rear quarter panel of my Landy.