# Where were you when the Eagle landed? (for Dopers old enough to remember) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301 "2005-07-20T15:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/21 "2005-07-20T18:06:10Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Nothing as remotely as cool as this has happened since, and probably won’t again in my lifetime. Perhaps the rovers on Mars. I was 13; saw the landing, slept and was awakened at some awful hour to watch Armstrong’s step onto the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/22 "2005-07-20T18:08:48Z")
> [@](#): > > my seventh birthday Eighth :smack: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/23 "2005-07-20T18:19:43Z")
I was in New York for the Odd Fellows UN Pigrimage. At the time of landing, I was wandering through Macy’s, but I was back in my room in the Hotel McAlpin in time to see Armstrong step onto the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/24 "2005-07-20T18:21:30Z")
I was eight years old. My parents had separated, and we were at my dad’s girlfriend’s house, where they were having a big pool party to celebrate. We all went in to watch the landing, then went back outside and jumped in the pool. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/25 "2005-07-20T18:38:12Z")
I watched it on TV with my brother and my mom (dad was working). I was 6. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/26 "2005-07-20T18:41:52Z")
I was in kindergarten, playing with blocks… family lore has it that when I was asked why I didn’t want to watch, I replied “so what, the moon’s always been there.” a realist at age 4! ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/27 "2005-07-20T18:51:29Z")
One of my treasured memories: I was on vacation with my family camping somewhere near Lake Michigan. One of the other families at the camp ground had a portible TV set, which was a nearly unheard of novelty in that era. They went around the campground and invited everyone to see the first ever moon walk. So you had maybe 100-150 people watching Neal Armstrong on perhaps a 6" diagonal screen. Few had a very good view. Some had binoculars and were giving a play-by-play for those around them, and were being shussed by those trying to hear neal say “That’s one step for…” Between my excitement at seeing the first human on the moon, the heat, and the mosquitos, my family didn’t get much sleep that night. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/28 "2005-07-20T18:54:02Z")
Incidentally, the software product that has paid my salary for the past 20 years was originally developed to keep track of parts needed for the moon mission. [link](http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=377307&rl=1) For anyone familiar with IMS, this is kind of a hoot: > [@](#): > > In April 1968, ICS [later renamed IMS] was installed. The first “READY” message was displayed on an IBM 2740 typewriter terminal at the Rockwell Space Division at NASA in Downey, California, on August 14, 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/29 "2005-07-20T18:57:56Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Some had binoculars and were giving a play-by-play for those around them, and were being shussed by those trying to hear neal say “That’s one step for…” Wow—those must have been _really strong_ binoculars! ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/30 "2005-07-20T18:58:42Z")
I was seven years old and my parents and I watched it in a hotel room - we were on vacation, but I don’t remember where. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/31 "2005-07-20T19:02:50Z")
> [@Stryfe](#): > > Oh well it doesn’t matter as it was all a conspiracy anyway 😉 News Item: SDMB member bludgeoned to death before attackers notice winking smiley :smack: Sorry Eight years old. After watching Neil A. step out I ran outside to look at the moon. I was so excited I thought I would explode. I had been following the space program since I was old enough to be aware of it and nothing fired my imagination more. Finally at age 44 I’m going to see the Kennedy Space Center this Monday. I feel like a kid again. I wonder if the local Blockbuster has a copy of [_The Reluctant Astronaut_](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0062190/). ---
**Author:** ![Ragiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ragiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ragiel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/32 "2005-07-20T19:07:47Z")
TV room, my parents’ home. (Age 20, living on my own over two years, but TV-less.) My grandmother, who remembered hearing about the Wright brothers’ flight as a teenager, was also there watching. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/33 "2005-07-20T19:12:46Z")
I was at my grandparent’s house, as my folks were on vacation in Colorado. I was fourteen, and I was so keyed up that when Armstrong stepped out of the capsule and climbed down to the surface my eyes literally\* could not make sense \* of the images they were viewing. I never turned away, but I couldn’t “see” it! Later of course it was replayed and then I could tell what was going on. I looked at my grandfather, born in October of 1900, and thought that in one lifetime he had gone from horse and buggy to men on the moon. It was clear hear in Topeka, and I went outside that night and looked up, thinking “There’s people up there!” About Apollo 13, I remember that when their danger was known there was a prayer said for them in our church, Sunday morning. It surprised me, as services at our church rarely seemed to take note of what was going on in the secular world. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/34 "2005-07-20T19:25:06Z")
> [@Ragiel](#): > > My grandmother, who remembered hearing about the Wright brothers’ flight as a teenager, was also there watching. A hair standing on end thought. Thanks! BTW, the assembled Saturn IV, Apollo and LEM were longer than the Wright Brother’s first flight. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![6\_6\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e0b2c6/32.png) [@6\_6\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6_6_6)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/35 "2005-07-20T19:35:09Z")
What is this TV device that you speak of? I was working at a satellite tracking station in the Falkland Islands and all we had to keep us in touch was VoA on short wave. Sure kept us glued to the 'speaker, though. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/36 "2005-07-20T19:42:47Z")
I was either in my bassinet, or my mother was breastfeeding me. I was 19 years old. Just kidding, I was like 2 months old. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/37 "2005-07-20T19:45:14Z")
I was still baking. Wasn’t born Til November. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/38 "2005-07-20T19:45:51Z")
> [@Ragiel](#): > > My grandmother, who remembered hearing about the Wright brothers’ flight as a teenager, was also there watching. I always found it absolutely **astonishing** that we went from no heavier-than-air aircraft to space flight within the lifespan of many people. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/39 "2005-07-20T19:48:21Z")
I was on an ocean liner, the SS United States, sailing from New York to Le Havre, France with my parents. We were part of a large crowd packed into the bar (I was 14, but they let me in), listening on the radio. When the first words from the moon came over the airwaves ("… Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!") the whole group jumped up and cheered, then began some serious drinking (except for me, dammit!). ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301/40 "2005-07-20T19:48:34Z")
I was five, but I clearly remember watching it in my grandmother’s living room in Tangier (Morocco). Grainy black and white images. My great aunt was with me, and when I asked her how big the moon was, she told me it was ‘just a little bit bigger than Gibraltar’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-when-the-eagle-landed-for-dopers-old-enough-to-remember/313301.md?page=3)