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On July 20, 1969, we were just back from the Cape, and I was sunburned. Really sunburned. So sunburned that I had ice bags resting on the backs of both knees and a mass of blisters from my first-ever case of sun poisoning growing like a third eye in the middle of my forehead. My mother has pictures. I will not be posting them.
We watched the landing on live TV, just like pretty much everyone else in the West. At the time, we had absolutely no idea just how close we had come to a disaster that would have probably ended manned space missions for a couple of decades at least. As far as the viewing public knew, Neil Armstrong was supposed to take the controls and land the ship manually. A bit later, after the sun had set, I went outside and looked up at the moon, which was almost full. It looked the same, of course, but my perceptions of it were completely different. It wasn't an unknown, distant place anymore – people were there now, and soon we'd be learning all about it.
Then we got word that they were moving up the time of the Moon Walk (and boy, did that term mean something different back then) and it would happen around 11 pm EDT. All the newsmen were acting like giddy schoolgirls and giving instructions on how to take pictures of your TV screen. I have pictures taken with my Kodak Instamatic 100. When I finally buy a scanner, I'll post them.
You've all seen the video, so I won't bother to describe it. My parents were positively gobsmacked; but to me it just seemed right. That was the night I decided a doctoral degree in some form of geoscience would be my best bet for a chance at a ticket to Mars. I only hoped they wouldn't get there before I finished grad school.
Earlier today, Sharon said this was the most important event of the twentieth century. I have to go her one better and say I think it was the most important event (so far) in Human history. It was the day we left our cradle.
We watched the landing on live TV, just like pretty much everyone else in the West. At the time, we had absolutely no idea just how close we had come to a disaster that would have probably ended manned space missions for a couple of decades at least. As far as the viewing public knew, Neil Armstrong was supposed to take the controls and land the ship manually. A bit later, after the sun had set, I went outside and looked up at the moon, which was almost full. It looked the same, of course, but my perceptions of it were completely different. It wasn't an unknown, distant place anymore – people were there now, and soon we'd be learning all about it.
Then we got word that they were moving up the time of the Moon Walk (and boy, did that term mean something different back then) and it would happen around 11 pm EDT. All the newsmen were acting like giddy schoolgirls and giving instructions on how to take pictures of your TV screen. I have pictures taken with my Kodak Instamatic 100. When I finally buy a scanner, I'll post them.
You've all seen the video, so I won't bother to describe it. My parents were positively gobsmacked; but to me it just seemed right. That was the night I decided a doctoral degree in some form of geoscience would be my best bet for a chance at a ticket to Mars. I only hoped they wouldn't get there before I finished grad school.
Earlier today, Sharon said this was the most important event of the twentieth century. I have to go her one better and say I think it was the most important event (so far) in Human history. It was the day we left our cradle.
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Date: 2009-07-21 01:00 am (UTC)From:It amazes me every time I stop to think on it.