July 20 1969

**Antique Hoosier** · 07-21-2012, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by ouch

What happened to out spirit of adventure?

GREAT question.

as to Phil's original question. I was 8 and living in Miami, Florida with my family and loving everything about the Moon landing. The local Hess gas stations had paper Lunar Module and associated puzzles etc and I had them assembled as I watched the TV whilst laying on cool terrazzo floors on SW 189th Street. Lifetimes away.

**auk1124** · 07-21-2012, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by ouch

What happened to out spirit of adventure?

We ran out of money. To quote The Right Stuff: No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

**jb4647** · 07-21-2012, 03:47 PM

I was born on Dec 20, 1972 and the day before the last men who landed on the Moon (Apollo 17) splashed down from their journey. Thus, in my lifetime no men have walked on the moon....

There were missions planned thru Apollo 20 but they got canceled due to budget cuts...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canceled_Apollo_missions

**garyg** · 07-21-2012, 04:12 PM

For what its worth, the golf club was a Wilson Staff, 1969 model, nicknamed the "Bulletback" .. 6 iron if I recall the distance correctly ..

**cb91710** · 07-21-2012, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by garyg

For what its worth, the golf club was a Wilson Staff, 1969 model, nicknamed the "Bulletback" .. 6 iron if I recall the distance correctly ..

That was Alan Shepard (first American in space) on Apollo 14.
It was indeed a Wilson 6-Iron head, but attached to a NASA tool handle... he didn't take the entire club.

**dpmtherrien** · 07-21-2012, 05:45 PM

I was in the Air Force stationed in Berlin Germany at the time. With the time difference it was broadcast at around 2 AM over there. If you wanted to watch it you signed a wake up roster, and they came around about a half an hour before it went on and everyone watched it on the TV in the day room. Pretty exciting stuff, it was a small squadron and almost everyone got up for it.

**demaro** · 07-21-2012, 05:49 PM

My family and I were celebrating my first birthday while watching it on tv.

**ScoutHikerDad** · 07-21-2012, 06:11 PM

Thanks for the facts and trivia, DC_MPA and others. During the "Right Stuff" era, those test pilots and astronauts really were the best and brightest, the cream of the crop, whichever cliche you want to use (even if many of them were suicidal, drunken maniacs when driving bikes or sports cars!). Do we even have a current equivalent to those elite heroes, symbols of national pride such as that? I can't think of any, to be honest.

When I ask my high school students about heroes, all I hear is Tupac or some other rapper thug-they don't have any idea.

**buddydog** · 07-21-2012, 08:24 PM

I was a member of the recovery team....

**luvmysuper** · 07-21-2012, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by buddydog

I was a member of the recovery team....

An amazing feeling it must be.

**NorthALABeeKeep** · 07-21-2012, 08:36 PM

I watched Apollo 11 blastoff on July 16 with my family. My dad worked for NASA and took the family down to watch the blastoff from across the Cape in Titusville. I was 11 at the time and still remember the noise from the mighty Saturn V. We watched the touch down on the moon back in home in Huntsville, AL 4 days later. A exciting time to be a kid.

**DC_MPA** · 07-21-2012, 08:41 PM

What always impresses me is that you will always find a legend like Chuck Yeager, Neil Armstrong, etc live to 90-100 yrs old in a sane and fulfilling life. They eat and breath the challenges of life until the end. Anytime we go to Oshkosh we always see Chuck Yeager (now at 89.5 yrs old) cutting up with kids, chatting up with adults, etc.

Another fun fact. While at Oshkosh, I personally witnessed Chuck Yeager meet a group of Make-A-Wish kids. The group was to fly with Chuck Yeager in a Ford Tri-Motor. The group ended up being smaller than expected so Chuck Yeager (on his own command) took the kids to the nearby sitting (and privately owned) B-17 Aluminum Overcast. He loaded them up the plane for a tour, ultimately fired the fighting fortress engines up (Chuck Yeager holds the only pilots license in America that licenses him to fly any aircraft)), and "kidnapped" the kids for a private flight on a B-17! That plane took off and swear to my death, he slowly turned it around, aimed it straight at the chaos of the worlds largest flyin and buzzed the crowd at tree top level in a B-17 filled with Make-A-Wish kids. It was one of those moments that still makes you naturally tear up knowing that rules, codes, risk in your legend status, etc were all broken just so you could make those kids smile and laugh.

My eyes are watering up remembering my personal witness to what he did that day. He is a gruff guy, but one of the biggest hearts I've ever seen in a human being.

**Argonaut** · 07-21-2012, 08:54 PM

Great moments in history! You guys are old, I'm 40 and only remember reading about this! I did read Chuck Yeagers' autobiography when I was 14, I thought he was the coolest dude on the planet, I still think he is.

**Joejitsu** · 07-21-2012, 08:58 PM

I was 12 years old. On vacation in the Catskill Mountains in NY with my parents. I was always interested in the space program, getting up to watch the 5 AM launches of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. If the pictures weren't grainy enough, we were huddled around a 13" B&W TV with rabbit ears in an area with terrible reception. Fourteen years later I started work for the company that designed and built the LEM, Grumman Aerospace.

**DC_MPA** · 07-21-2012, 09:01 PM

I'm only 29 :)

I will admit, I've lived a life more compete and fulfilling than anyone else I have ever known.

Originally Posted by jmallen5

Great moments in history! You guys are old, I'm 40 and only remember reading about this! I did read Chuck Yeagers' autobiography when I was 14, I thought he was the coolest dude on the planet, I still think he is.

**shavervinnie** · 07-21-2012, 09:06 PM

I was vacationing in Panama City Beach, Fla. with my cousins. We watched it on TV. I was 9 yrs. old and remember that vacation and seeing the drama unfold on TV like it was yesterday. I was really into space stuff as a kid.

**goatee** · 07-21-2012, 10:07 PM

pc calander will not go beyond 1980. i wanted to count backwards, 40 weeks from march 2nd. 1970.
7 months and 1 week? ish.... so i was alive! just no birthdays yet. at all.

**jb4647** · 07-22-2012, 09:14 AM

Here are a couple of youtube channels that post videos from the actual NBC/CBS/ABC broadcasts.....not films after the fact but the actual Television as aired. I wasn't aware of how much simulations were used during the flights.

http://www.youtube.com/user/lunarmodule5

http://www.youtube.com/user/zellco321

On a slightly related note, here's a youtube channel that posts videos of US Presidential Election Night broadcasts. It's interesting to compare how the coverage changed over the years as television got more sophisticated. Some of the graphics are pretty primitive:

http://www.youtube.com/user/efan2011

**oc_in_fw** · 07-22-2012, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by luvmysuper

Where were you when this happened? Do you remember this incredible milestone in human history?

Steubenville, OH- but I was only 1 at the time. Sam's Club had a collection of 6 DVD about the Apollo missions which I bought a couple years ago. Lots of great NASA and network news programming on it.

**Nils** · 07-22-2012, 01:42 PM

I was 6 then, and my father tells me that although I was allowed to stay up and watch it on the neighbour's TV (not all German households had TV sets back then) I fell asleep at about 22:00. :-(
and for the morons who think it was staged:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/123520..._sucker_punch/