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I was a little kid, sitting on the floor with my eyes glued to our black and white TV.

I was 2 years old and had no idea. But my mother took black and white Polaroids of the tv set while all was happening. These pictures are amazing…she took about 40 shots.

Gulf of Tonkin Yankee Station….USS Kitty Hawk

God bless our troops
God bless America
ol’

I was 2 months old. I know that when they landed, my dad and his best friend had too many beers while watching the TV, tried to call the White House to congratulate em, got all the way through to the switchboard, and in return our phone was disconnected for a month. Never got to thank the Pres, and my mom was PISSED!

Being somewhat the youngster in this group, I was not yet even a twinkle in my Mom or Dad’s eye when this launch occurred.

My Dad had the opportunity to meet Grissom, White, and Chaffee during the summer before their accident. He still has the autographs put away.

Looking back on the space program, it’s amazing that we have lost so very few astronauts during this group of inherently dangerous endeavors.

I love reliving the events and accomplishments of the past through archived footage, old photos, and most of all, the memories of those who experienced it first hand.

I was with the 4th Infantry Division on LZ Bullet in the An khe valley. Of course we had no TV but heard the launch on AFRTS. That evening we got attacked, so it kind of got put on the back burner. We were busy. I have no regrets about volunteering and fighting for my country but I really regretted not seeing the landing live, or being back in the States with a bunch of family and friends watching. The only thing that was upsetting was before the mission there were people who wanted to put the UN flag instead of the US flag up there.

I was 13. My newest cousin was christened that day, so we had ALL the family at our house watching. The adults in the living room watching the b/w family tv, and the kids in my parents watching the second tv.

It was wonderfully exciting, though it did seem a little surreal. I can certainly understand where the idea that it took place on some movie set somewhere came from.

Check out the recent pictures of the LEM’s from Apollo 11 on up, on the surface of the moon

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/apollosites.html

We moved to Titusville, FL in 1967 and I got to see every Apollo shot from Apollo 8 through Apollo 17. Titusville is directly across the Indian River from Cape Canaveral. We lived about 10 miles from the river and every shot would rattle our house like an earthquake. If you ever have the chance to see a space shot live, do it. It is awe inspiring.

Many people in town worked at the Cape and on the Apollo program, in fact my father was one of the draftsmen on the Apollo 1B booster (that was before we moved to Titusville). I still have a copy of the blueprints for that stage, somewhere around here.

What a great era that was and what a shame we have thrown that dream away.

@Curt: A sad reminder with that footage of Walter Cronkite who died tonight at 92 years old.

Getting ready to get married. The first night of our honeymoon, July 20, 1969, was Neal Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind. Ever since then, it’s been easy to remember our anniversary. The “MSM” won’t let us forget. This week, it’s #40 — for both them and us.

LW/HB

I was about two months shy of 15, and I did watch it launch. On the 20th, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, I was at the 40th Wedding Anniversary of my paternal Grandparents at my uncle’s house. I split for the basement rec room right after loosing the jacket and tie and taking two turns on the shirt sleeves so I could watch that historic an amazing event. And to get away from all those little old ladies who had a thing about pinching my cheeks!

Scott your answer is really funny! Slightly off topic, but that reminded me also that those were still the days of “party lines”, of which I’m sure no cell phone age kid today could possibly relate.

I was a bored kid and decided to “scapbook” the whole thing, after one of my friends told me the news clippings would be worth a lot of money some day. Funny I kept that darn thing packed away until the recent last move; finally gave it a pitch , but it was fun to look at it again.

Now that the Mr. Gorskey/Neil Armstrong “Good Luck” tale has been debunked, who had any idea that the first ‘meal on the moon’ was taking place?

Congrats to Larry and family on the 40th!

Interesting story, via Brutally Honest :

Buzz Aldrin had with him the Reserved Sacrament. He radioed: “Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.”

Later he wrote: “In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.’ I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly…Eagle’s metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.”

If you like a little dementia, click this link:

http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song

Didn’t Aldrin later claim they spotted an UFO?

@GaffaUK:

Why don’t YOU do some work for a change, and after you research it thoroughly get back to us.

@GaffaUK: I’m surprised you are not questioning whether the entire moon landing was faked. No doubt you can fall back on the unassailable sources of some Scottish coal miner and your beloved Iranians for proof that it was.

@yonason: That’s asking too much from poor Gaffuk. Apparently, the “Westnet ” IP he is using blocks all sites but those of obscure Scottish coal miners and various assorted America haters.

Asking him to do even simple research is also above the pay grade of the typical video game professional.

@Mike’s America:

LOL. I see what you mean… It’s a real powerhouse.

Why don’t YOU do some work for a change, and after you research it thoroughly get back to us.

Wow – that took 3 seconds to find.

@Mike

That’s asking too much from poor Gaffuk. Apparently, the “Westnet ” IP he is using blocks all sites but those of obscure Scottish coal miners and various assorted America haters.

Somewhat of a tangent isn’t that Mike? I thought you don’t do tangents? lol

As for Westnet – it’s not that big in Australia but has been ranked highly as IP service plenty of times.

http://www.westnet.com.au/about/media/press/301008.pdf
http://www.whirlpool.net.au/survey/2008/

So what’s your IP? Reuters?;)

However I don’t get my news from my IP’s home website. Do you?

Although interesting Aussie Government is trying to put together a filter. Not that it will be hard to bypass if they ever do.

http://news.theage.com.au/technology/australias-plans-to-filter-internet-under-fire-20080102-1jwl.html

Anway nice tangent – how about we get back to discussing Apollo 11 rather than have a meaningless tangent on ISPs.

@GaffaUK:

OK, youi are capable of finding things, if you want to. Now, lets review your initial question…
“Didn’t Aldrin later claim they spotted an UFO?”
…in order to ask what you meant by it, and whether that video supports your implied insult or not.

So, what did you mean by it? …that he was a fruitcake? …like “wasn’t he the guy who talked to the Pillsbury Dough Boy?”

I can’t see any other reason for you to just throw that out. But when you watch the video you so easily found, you realize (or should) that he wasn’t a fruitcake at all, because they all saw it, and even took pictures of it. NASA even took it seriously, and well they should because they had no idea whether it was a potential threat or not.

So, what was your point? if you hadn’t meant it to be a snide insult, what did you mean? Being childishly insulting is, after all, your style. And if that was what you meant, thank you for demonstrating what a clearly idiotic comment it was in the first place, which you should have realized had you found and correctly understood that video BEFORE posting.

Of course, it it wasnt an intended insult, WHAT WAS YOUR POINT?

@yonason: I agree… It smelled to me like another of Gaffuk’s snide attempts to cast derision on this momentous achievement of AMERICAN ingenuity and technology.

Surely our socialist loving friend is aware that a UFO does not necessarily mean an alien craft.

Or maybe he’s not aware of that and thinks we are all under alien mind control.

I sometimes wonder if he is.

@Mike’s America:

Yeah, but then again, maybe he was just “debating?”

Or, maybe he’s an extreme ASPIE? (A lot of the geekier types are, though some of us can conceal it better than others – or we just think we can)

I (conveniently) forget what my score was, but you can get some idea by taking this test…
http://aq.server8.org/

….or this one….
http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

Actually, if he is an ASPIE (highly likely given his choice of profession) it’s entirely possible he really may not even realize he’s such a pain in the butt (even despite our frequently telling him same).

Oh, and being an ASPIE isn’t in itself a “bad” thing, it’s just what one does with it…
http://aspiesinc.blogspot.com/2006/10/famous-aspies.html

@ Mike & Yonason

C’mon guys stop being so sensitive.

Firstly – seems you both need a bit of stroking of your ruffled feathers. The Apollo 11 was a tremendous achievement not just of mankind but in particular the USA. A country I am actually very fond of and like to go on holiday there when I can. The moon landing will be remembered for many centuries – probably forever in human achievement. I just hope we can go further – as it’s been a while – but the challenges of humans of going to say Mars is massive but I believe we – as a species – will crack it.

Secondly – it wasn’t intended a snide comment at all. I threw it in there to spark debate. As it’s fascinating detail not often known. Now I’m skeptical of aliens coming to earth – they seem to like Utah I lot. But anyway I do believe out there – there are other intelligent species – it’s just that space is so vast. And then again – we don’t know what technology they have developed – as an aircraft would seem unbelievable to a cave-man.

As for Asperger’s – that pretty low – even for you Yonason. What was your score? 😉 I’ll give them a go later – but I remember doing such an online test a while back for fun and getting I think it was 9% – so maybe I’m just naturally annoying to people like you.

@GaffaUK: “Debate?” Debate about what?

The topic here is the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the moonlanding. NOT UFO’s!

I suppose if I put up a post about UFO’s you would want to know what we thought about the rising price of eggs!

@GaffaUK:

“..seems you both need a bit of stroking of your ruffled feathers.”

Yoiu keep your grubby little paws away from my feathers, or you just might lose ’em – I’m that “sensitive”.

There he goes, again…
.”..to spark debate” ? ? ? ?

Say what? Why? What’s to “debate” about remembering a great technological achievement? You really are a complete idiot. (And I doubt it was 9%. Probably more like 90%)

UPDATE – GaffaUK has kindly permitted me to release his address to America in honor of the moon landing, …just to spark an honest “debate.”

@Mike

The topic here is the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the moonlanding. NOT UFO’s!

lol – so the personal recollections of Buzz Aldrin – 1 of the 3 astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission is apparently off topic whilst what ISP I use isn’t. How utterly bizarre!

What’s to “debate” about remembering a great technological achievement?

Sure – so during all these celebrations there have been NO debates surrounding this amazing achievement. Because I mean what is there to debate? lol <sarcasm off? Like whether to go back to the moon or go to mars. About the nature of celebrity in contrasting Armstrong with Aldrin. About whether the cost of space travel is worthwhile. And so forth. This is a political website which has plenty of discussion. I think that makes you the humourless IDIOT if you fail to see this.

@GaffaUK: If you are interested in Buzz Aldrin, buy one of his books:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Magnificent-Desolation/Buzz-Aldrin/e/9780307463456

But again, that would be tangential to our observation of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.

@Mike

Good suggestion. Buzz is an amazing guy. It’s a shame that Armstrong seems so shy – I can appreciate that the fame has it’s downside and daily hassle it would cause – but still. Oh well. Anyway I liked the way Buzz dealt with one of those foolish people who claim the landing was fake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU

And of course – Ali G with Buzz…lol

Does the moon really exist?

@GaffaUK:

? ? ? ? ?

I’ve seen him get desperate before, but that nutty comment takes the cake.

@Mike’s America:

I wanna see the Gaffer go tell Buzz Aldrin he wants to “debate” with him, heh heh heh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ez-NpFVwQw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.debbieschlussel.com%2F&feature=player_embedded

H/T – Debbie Schlussel’s blog
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2009/07/sad_but_true_vi.html

@yonason: Good ole Buzz!

@Mike’s America:

“THE RIGHT STUFF” all right!

(can we call that one “TRUTHER CONSEQUENCES?”)

An Undelivered Nixon Speech

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. The following speech, revealed in 1999, was prepared by Nixon’s then speechwriter, William Safire, to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the astronauts on the moon:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind. (Source: Watergate.info)