**** (This article was published in local paper. used w/author's permission.) **** (c) 1999 MAR
The time of this writing is July 20, 1999.
v
v
July 20 1969. . . Truly a date that will live in history as one of the most thrilling events of the first millenium. I can still remember watching the news coverage and these live pictures from the Moon. My whole family was watching. We were at the Lagoon Motel in Clearwater, Florida, on vacation. We had gotten there a day after the launch. We were in a motel just south of Atlanta for the launch.
What an exciting time for a seven-year-old boy whose imagination went wild with what they might find…hoped they would find. My parents could forget for just a little while the chaos and tragedy of Vietnam, and the civil unrest that gripped our country. Nothing else was of concern, for this one moment our country and even the world came together for a brief shining moment.
When the Ohio native, Neil Armstrong, stepped on the moon from the Eagle, he did not say this was a giant step for America, but one “… for ALL Mankind.” This was the attitude.
He and Buzz Aldrin were HEROES! Not just for a small boy in a Florida motel room, but for old and young all over the planet!
When we got back home a few weeks later, it was all my friends and I talked about. We no longer wanted to be Firemen, or Policemen… we wanted to be ASTRONAUTS! WE wanted to go to the Moon or even…Mars! Maybe even Saturn. I think from that time forward looking at the stars was not the same. Mercury and Gemini missions were exciting, but they were just in orbit. The Apollo Project shrunk the universe just enough to expand the imagination ten fold.
The one side effect it had on me was I now was forever excited by science fiction. Star Trek was on in syndication and I watched it all the time. 2001 a Space Odyssey, Silent Running, Forbidden Plant, This Island Earth, these types of movies kept the spark alive.
I was just as excited for all the moon shots, watching the coverage of each with my Mom and Dad. Even my Grandparents thought it was amazing. When the moon missions came to an end I was saddened by the lack of enthusiasm for the space program. Mostly I blame the media. They decided it was not as worthy of the attention, because we done it already. What a lack of foresight. The old liberal newshounds went right back to their mundane lives, while many of us still longed for more.
Skylab, and the Apollo-Soyuz docking kept our interest, but it would be a long while before we got back. (the topic of a future rant?) We won’t go there now.
So those of us that were fortunate enough to remember this great event firsthand will forever know the excitement of our journey to another world. We can only hope we find that excitement again, something to pull us all together. God knows we need it.
What an exciting time for a seven-year-old boy whose imagination went wild with what they might find…hoped they would find. My parents could forget for just a little while the chaos and tragedy of Vietnam, and the civil unrest that gripped our country. Nothing else was of concern, for this one moment our country and even the world came together for a brief shining moment.
When the Ohio native, Neil Armstrong, stepped on the moon from the Eagle, he did not say this was a giant step for America, but one “… for ALL Mankind.” This was the attitude.
He and Buzz Aldrin were HEROES! Not just for a small boy in a Florida motel room, but for old and young all over the planet!
When we got back home a few weeks later, it was all my friends and I talked about. We no longer wanted to be Firemen, or Policemen… we wanted to be ASTRONAUTS! WE wanted to go to the Moon or even…Mars! Maybe even Saturn. I think from that time forward looking at the stars was not the same. Mercury and Gemini missions were exciting, but they were just in orbit. The Apollo Project shrunk the universe just enough to expand the imagination ten fold.
The one side effect it had on me was I now was forever excited by science fiction. Star Trek was on in syndication and I watched it all the time. 2001 a Space Odyssey, Silent Running, Forbidden Plant, This Island Earth, these types of movies kept the spark alive.
I was just as excited for all the moon shots, watching the coverage of each with my Mom and Dad. Even my Grandparents thought it was amazing. When the moon missions came to an end I was saddened by the lack of enthusiasm for the space program. Mostly I blame the media. They decided it was not as worthy of the attention, because we done it already. What a lack of foresight. The old liberal newshounds went right back to their mundane lives, while many of us still longed for more.
Skylab, and the Apollo-Soyuz docking kept our interest, but it would be a long while before we got back. (the topic of a future rant?) We won’t go there now.
So those of us that were fortunate enough to remember this great event firsthand will forever know the excitement of our journey to another world. We can only hope we find that excitement again, something to pull us all together. God knows we need it.
.
.
.
.
.
These are my friend's words. . . BUT
I was there. . .
John Q. Citizen
"The Regular Guy"
.
.
That's the way it was July 20th, 1969- 10:57pm edt
R.I.P. Walter Cronkite
Where were you? How did it affect your life if any? Tell me…
I was 14 in 1969 and I remember my Mom woke up me and my 2 brothers to watch the landing, saying we would remember it forever. Afterwards, we went outside and looked up at the moon. I believe it was after midnight.
ReplyDeleteThe memories this brings back are SO fresh and I agree with you JQC, this country desperately needs another unifying moment. Especically with the Great Divider i Chief, Obama, tearing us up. I just don't know what.
I think Palin would find someting.