What were you doing on July 20, 1969?

That’s 55 years ago, so there are probably a couple here who were just a twinkle in their daddy’s eye.

On that date, most Americans (and many others) were watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon. It was a huge milestone in the “space race”, a milestone in live television, and the first telephone call between the moon and planet Earth. Remember JFK’s speech in 1961?

Now it is time to take longer strides,” he exhorted, “time for a great new American enterprise . . . . I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

At the time he gave this speech before Congress in 1961, NASA was not yet three years old. Six years later, we were there. Considering the state of technology at the time, it was a bloody miracle!

“one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil Armstrong leads Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins out of the space centre on the Apollo 11 space mission to the moon. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

 

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15 Responses to What were you doing on July 20, 1969?

  1. auscitizenmom's avatar auscitizenmom says:

    I think I was on Midway Island and we didn’t get much TV. I am not sure weever got the news.

    Liked by 3 people

  2. ernnburn's avatar ernnburn says:

    I traveled over one-thousand miles to Cape Canaveral, Florida and watched Apollo 11 lift off. Spectacular to hear and view, then made it back home to watch them walk on the moon on television. Wonderful memory.

    Liked by 3 people

  3. WeeWeed's avatar WeeWeed says:

    I was either rehearsing or performing in “Annie Get Your Gun” in a base production. Being a kid I’m sure I wasn’t paying attention at all.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. texan59's avatar texan59 says:

    I watched it while we were in K-Mart that evening. I stood in the TV department watching.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. czarina33's avatar czarina33 says:

    My father had the TV on all the time, and we watched everything. He was born around the time of the Wright Brothers flight so barnstormers were part of his life, he worked for an airline from the early 1940’s until he died. Flying to the moon was a natural evolution. And we were right there with him.

    Liked by 3 people

  6. Re-Farmer's avatar Re-Farmer says:

    I was just over a year old at the time, but my sister, 10 years older than me, remembers watching it on TV.

    Today, I have “arguments” on FB with people convinced it was all faked. Bizarre.

    Liked by 3 people

  7. czarina33's avatar czarina33 says:

    I can’t be the only one who remembers the later flight and moonwalks when the astronaut pointed the camera at the sun and burned it out. NASA had a the astronauts carefully narrate the walks and actors in Houston dressed in space suits with all the props acted everything out for the TV cameras on earth.. That’s where the “faked” it became real.

    Liked by 1 person

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