It was the day after my 8th birthday. Some gift, for a kid who was a total little space freak! It was way past my normal bedtime so I fell asleep then had to be awakened. The TV signal, at my home, was so bad that the local station might as well have been at Tranquility, and we could not understand what was being said, but who cared… (Here in PR we had a connection, with Mike Collins having spent part of his youth here)
(Must mention that little more than half a year earlier the NASA folks, of course, had given me quite the Christmas Eve treat, too. We’ll talk about that in December, I’m sure.)
Though I was only a child I could tell from the vibe around me that there had been much that had been not right in '68, and this, this looked like the promise that something wonderful was now possible…
I was not quite two at the time, and though I have no memory of that day, I assume I probably “watched” it with my parents. I do have a distinct memory of watching *someone *walking on the moon, but I can’t remember who it was…
I was three. I remember watching it. There were a whole bunch of people gathered in our living room, all crowded around our tiny black and white TV. All of the adults were making a big deal out of it. I only knew it was a big deal because they were all making it out to be a big deal.
Men walk on the moon? Ok, if you say so. Milk comes from cow? Ok, if you say so. Hey, I was 3. I was still trying to figure out how the world worked. It was only later that I realized what a big thing it had been and how lucky I am now to be able to remember it.
We were at my grandma’s in Mexico. We got to stay up late to watch it with my uncles and grandma and mom. It seemed (and still seems) unreal, like a dream.
I was fourteen, and along with my two sisters, I watched it at my parent’s house. My folks were in Colorado on a trip(It’s their wedding anniversary)
I was so keyed up that although I never took my eyes away from the screen, as Armstrong emerged from the lander, my brain could not process the info my eyes were sending it. All I could “see” was blobs of white, gray and black. I kept asking “where is it?” Later it was repeated and then I really saw it.
My grandfather was born, just barely, in the 19th century, so in his lifetime we went from horse and buggy to walking on the moon. It was clear here that night, and I walked outside, looked up at the moon, and thought “There are people up there!”
I had just graduated from high school, and I had a small party in my basement to watch. A friend who was over 18 bought champagne, and we drank to them after the moonwalk started.
I watched CBS, of course. Not only was Uncle Walter the best, he had Arthur C. Clarke on as a commentator.
I still have the special issue of Life Magazine on the landing and the special New York Times on it.
I was three years old. My parents sat me down in front of a black-and-white Philco console television in the living room, and made sure I watched it. Can’t remember anything, but I did watch it.
That’s what it was like for me with space shots of the earlier Mercury and Gemini launches. My folks weren’t real space freaks, but they had a sense of history. They’d get us up early in the morning watch, and tell us “Someday you’ll want to remember this.” I’m glad I was fourteen by the time man walked on the moon, I can truly remember it, and the details of that day and night.
Speaking of early childhood spaceshot memories, I may or may not remember being very young and watching a launch on TV, and my mother saying, “There’s a man in this one!”
If it was Alan Shepherd’s first flight, I was three.
Three months after I watched that my Son was born… My Paternal Grandmother was born in the 19th Century and she too went from horse & buggy to men on the moon as did my Maternal Grandfather. I was almost 26 years old.
That must have been an amazing instant. I’ve got a fascinating book that recounts the tense moments of that expedition from the POV of the guy who ran mission control – Gene Kranz – actually the book is all about those fundamental NASA years from the POV of mission control–the Apollo 13 recounting is truly riveting. I’d highly recommend it to the curious.
I was 3, and I have vague recollections of it. Mostly because we didn’t own a TV at the time and my parents had just started renting one, at least partially because of this.
We had been living in the Phillipeans, dad was in the USAF and we moved from there to Oklahoma. Our first day there was the moon walk. It’s also my brother Tom’s birthday.
