50 years since the first moon walk

[kerouac2]

The first moon landing took place on 21 July 1969 and was one of the greatest collective emotional events in the world.  French media have been talking about it every day for at least two weeks, even though we are still a week away from the actual anniversary.  Is the rest of the world indifferent?

The last lunar landing took place on December 11, 1972.  Then the world lost interest.  Been there, done that.

[bixaorellana]

Not indifferent. I have to admit, though, that when I glanced at the subject heading I was wondering what you would be writing about Michael Jackson.

[kerouac2]

It's a bit distressing that Michael Jackson comes to mind about this subject.

[questa]

Ozzi press has been running with it, but then our space dish played a pivotal role in keeping the show going while the landing was unable to be seen by Northern Hemisphere... was out of range.(or something like that.) There were last minute glitches and heroic repairs.
See if you can watch the movie, "The Dish", which is funny and true of the Oz role in the moon landing.
Well...mostly true!

[kerouac2]

So, today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11.

[questa]

For the landing and moon walk my husband took time off and came home to watch it with me. Our living room had high glass windows that reflected light onto the TV screen. We made a tent out of chairs and blankets and huddled down in the darkness to watch history being made.

Where were you and what were you doing at the time?

[kerouac2]

For me it was the summer school holidays, so I just stayed glued to the television that afternoon.

[cheerypeabrain]

This was HUGE in our house. I remember we kept a keen eye on all the Apollo missions. By 1969 my dad was running his own business with 4 colleagues, designing and making telescopes for universities and observatories. (Initially successful, they sadly went bust in the late 70s largely because 2 of the directors siphoned off all the profits because they thought that they deserved bigger wages than everybody else). Dad designed and helped construct some huge instruments...one went to Greenwich according to Mother.

Anyway.

I was a 1st year at senior school...there was a lot of excitement amongst the pupils. I gave a talk about the Moon in my English class with photos my Dad gave me...talking about the space race..which got me promoted from the bottom class to the top one. (I'd already been doing well, the reason I'd been put in the bottom class was that I'd failed the 11 plus exam...missing most of it through a move from one county to another when the family went from Leicester to Bedfordshire earlier that year). My new classmates (included Myrt...still my best mate after all these years) were welcoming and mostly from much more privileged backgrounds than myself or any of the kids in my previous form (mostly farm workers children) We would zoom around the playground shouting things like "IGNITION SEQUENCE STARTS!" ....great fun.

My Dad came upstairs and woke me early to watch the landing and the moonwalk...we were all bursting with admiration and respect. It felt like a new beginning, hope for a much brighter future. I think that Americans were seen as a strange, glamorous super beings! There were English engineers working for NASA as well as experts from around the world...but it was very much an American achievement. The bravery and expertise of the astronauts, the hundreds of NASA employees and the support of the American people was astounding. We were all in awe. They were generous enough to take us with them, what other country would share such a thing with the whole world? My Dad met Buzz Aldrin a few times (albeit briefly) and says that he was incredibly smart.

Incredible stuff. Thank you to our chums from the USA...(is that smarmy?...I'm sorry...I'm British you know...gushing dont come easy)

[questa]

So many memories, Cheery.
We just assumed that only "the Yanks" could pull off a Big Thing like this.BUT they couldn't do it without little old Oz providing the missing link. If we made any mistakes the whole thing would fail. Then things started to go pear-shaped and it was all hands on deck to re-establish contact.I seem to remember it was a scientist's wife whose observation and suggestion saved the day. Well done, that little woman, there!

[kerouac2]

Tonight, French TV interviewed the one and only woman in Mission Control in Houston among those 120 or so men.

[kerouac2]

I read that NASA represented 4.4% of the American federal budget in 1966. That corresponds to 46 billion current dollars. Today the about of the budget is 0.5% and is $21 billion.