Posted on 08/26/2012 3:43:19 AM PDT by Check6
When I was a cadet, Neil Armstrong stopped by USAFA and flew a 1-26 in the wave (1970). At the time, the glider program had 2 towplanes (Helio Couriers) and 4 or 5 gliders total, program in infancy. Major McMurtry was the OIC and we called it "McMurtry's Air Force". Sully was in the group. I have a picture of the 1-26 with me and some of the guys (I haven't checked to see if you can see the people's faces (slide is down in ***) -- I was always more interested in the airplanes than the people -- ) sitting around on the ground before we put the gliders away, late fall I believe with winter flight suits on, and the glider that Neil Armstrong flew not long before the photo is the subject of the picture. We never saw him. Yes, he was "hiding" :) But hey, he flew "my" glider!
It was the middle of Basic Cadet Training (BCT). Class was split in two groups roughly 700 each, one group was doing the grunt portion of BCT out in Jack's Valley, the other group (mine), was doing the "barracks" part of BCT in the dorms on the main campus. Half way through the summer, we switched. We were in the old dorms, and the upperclassmen got us up in the middle of the night and everyone sat on the floor facing an intersection of the hallways, where they put a B/W TV on a chair angled 45deg so both hallways could watch. This was repeated all through the old dorms, so that all the Doolies could see it. So the class of 73, at least half of it, got to see the landing despite BCT! I can remember being very busy and unhappy as a "squat", but knowing that the launch was a success, and each day they were getting closer to the moon ... but almost too tired (and miserable) to bemoan the lack of time and TV to watch the drama. I watched every flight prior to that one.
I soon came to realize that the first moon landing was the event marking America's apogee. Perigee is yet to come (though some think we are there).
I was seven. We got to stay up very late, which was a big deal. The entire family walked down to a neighbors house because they had a larger television to watch it on. The first thing we did when leaving? Look up at the moon of course.....
..pick me.... I’ve got it... pick me, pick me.. :)
I watched the landing with Bob Hope, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. in a suite at the Continental Plaza Hotel, in Chicago.. I got called in on that Sunday because Mr. Hope planned a party of celebrities, that were gathering with him to watch the event, and I thought I should oversee that the plans were perfect, and because I already knew him..
I was the Food and Beverage Director of the hotel, and was on call if anything special was planned..
When I arrived at the Suite with the food, he invited me to join them to watch the landing with his guests.. (smirk)
FYI.. THANK YOU BOB HOPE for all of our memories. Especially mine.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/953954/posts
Ken, USAFA '73.
Well how cool is that? Great story, and you win, Carlo ;-)
Yeah, I took pics w/ my 35 mm too. They came out pretty decent.
Saved the newspaper the next day with the headline.
I'd be hard pressed to find either now though.
I was 15 and played in a half-baked teenage garage band. I had a little crappy reel-to-reel tape recorder. I didn’t have any spare reels, so I had the crazy idea to make my own “special moon-landing reel” out of a vitamin bottle top. This way I would be able to keep my recording of the moon landing safe in perpetuity. So in the wee hours I set up my goofball contraption and waited to tape Armstrong’s first words. And we waited and waited. I have no idea whatever happened to my vitamin bottle recording reel.Maybe the Smithsonian came and took it.
Her response? “big deal” and walked away... LOL
It was a big deal to me- I think my love for science started that day. I just could not get over that two guys were actually standing on that thing I was looking at right that second.
I was the duty Electrician on the USS Columbus (CG-12) that was being refitted at the Norfolk Shipyard. Watched it in the crews mess.
History had judged, however, that the "a" was never spoken, and in fact, it gives the quote a somehow deeper meaning, a more timeless effect.
In my mind, whenever I hear or read the quote, I put the "a" in there, for Armstrong.
Proud to say that I was working for a NASA contractor at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Clear Lake City outside Houston (later named after LBJ). I had a very small but unforgettable role in 6 Apollo missions.
The splash-down party after the Apollo 11 crew was safely aboard the recovery ship was incredible.
I was a 10 year old boy too on July 20, 1969. My experience was very similar to yours.
Though it was late in the evening, our whole family was huddled around the TV watching the extraordinary event. Since it was in the middle of summer, we had a box fan running in the living room (with metal blades — not plastic) to help keep us comfortable. That was long before we got central air and the window unit needed a little help.
I remember as I was laying on my back on the floor, I used an old wicker basket purse that belonged to my mother to prop my head up. I think mom and dad still have the box fan somewhere in their garage. I couldn’t begin to tell you what happened to the wicker purse.
Like you, I went outside to look at the moon, and like you, I was having a hard time believing there were men on the moon at that very moment. That was a glorious, triumphal event from long ago in America’s past.
How far we have fallen! These days, I am saddened the US doesn’t even have a manned space program.
I had pitched a tent in our front yard and was planning an overnight stay in it. My parents were within 20 feet watching it live. All I cared about was getting my lantern lit. I was 11.
I remember the moon landing very well. I was about 15 at the time. Prior to that all we had was black and white tv. Color tv was still fairly new. My dad went to Sears and charged a brand new color tv on their credit card without telling my mom and man did she have a fit!...but dad was so happy to have his new tv just for this event...
...many years later I got to thinking that it was mostly in black and white anyway so the color tv didn’t help that much...lol
Some months after the moon landing, when he was going through the millionth interview, likely having to answer tghe same questions over and over, when asked what his thoughts were as he was sitting on the launching pad awaiting liftoff, he replied:
(Paraphrasing from memory)
"I realized that the three of us were sitting atop this incredibly complex piece of engineering, consisting of millions of parts, EACH ONE WHICH WAS BUILT BY THE LOWEST BIDDER."
What a great life he lead.
I hate to throw in a discordant note, butg reading the statement that Obama released, I was soooo PO'd...Obama has gutted the space program, and here he is with phony talk about our goals in space. What a krock
I was 6 and my 2 year old brother and I were in front of the tv with Mom & Dad. Dad took photos of the television set and I remember my brother was messing around in a clothes basket and cracked his head open on the coffee table.(no stitches:)
TV moments that still stand out for me from then were the moon landing and tiny tim’s wedding on the Tonight show (mom woke me up and dragged me downstairs for that)
Luckily, there is one man who was actually there, and he runs a very swift and efficient course that counters these claims of the ignoramuses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wcrkxOgzhU
I was 8, watching on the living room floor. I got to stay up late for it, always a rare treat.
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