IN CASE YOU DIDN’T ALREADY KNOW, THIS IS A LITTLE TIDBIT OF TRIVIA,
ON JULY 20, 1969,
AS COMMANDER OF THE APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE,
NEIL ARMSTRONG WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SET FOOT ON THE MOON.
HIS FIRST WORDS AFTER STEPPING ON THE MOON WERE,
“THAT’S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND,”
AND THEY WERE TELEVISED TO EARTH
BUT JUST BEFORE HE RE-ENTERED THE LANDER,
HE MADE THE ENIGMATIC REMARK,
“GOOD LUCK, MR.GORSKY”.
MANY PEOPLE AT NASA THOUGHT THAT
IT WAS A CASUAL REMARK, CONCERNING SOME RIVAL SOVIET COSMONAUT.
HOWEVER, UPON CHECKING, THERE WAS NO GORSKY
IN EITHER THE RUSSIAN OR AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAMS.
OVER THE YEARS, MANY PEOPLE QUESTIONED ARMSTRONG
AS TO WHAT THE ‘GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY’ STATEMENT MEANT.
BUT ARMSTRONG ALWAYS JUST SMILED.
ON JULY 5, 1995, IN TAMPA BAY , FLORIDA ,
WHILE ANSWERING QUESTIONS FOLLOWING A SPEECH,
A REPORTER BROUGHT UP THE 26 YEAR-OLD QUESTION TO ARMSTRONG.
THIS TIME HE FINALLY RESPONDED.
MR. GORSKY HAD DIED, SO NEIL ARMSTRONG FELT THAT HE COULD NOW
ANSWER THE QUESTION IN 1938, WHEN HE WAS A KID IN A SMALL MID WESTERN TOWN ,
HE WAS PLAYING BASEBALL WITH A FRIEND IN THE BACKYARD.
HIS FRIEND HIT THE BALL, WHICH LANDED IN HIS NEIGHBOR’S YARD,
BY THEIR BEDROOM WINDOW. HIS NEIGHBORS WERE MR. AND MRS. GORSKY.
AS HE LEANED DOWN TO PICK UP THE BALL, YOUNG
ARMSTRONG HEARD MRS. GORSKY SHOUTING AT MR. GORSKY
“SEX! YOU WANT SEX?!
YOU’LL GET SEX WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR WALKS ON THE MOON”!
TRUE STORY......IT BROKE THE PLACE UP!
Great story.
RightOnline, USAFA ‘77
My mother put me in front of the tv in some carrier or something like it....I was 2 months old.
I was at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. Watched the broadcast in the dayroom and went out to the third floor balcony and just stared at the Moon. Wow. What a night!
In the basement of our home. Minot AFB, North Dakota.
I was 9 years-old.
My mom took a Polaroid picture of the TV. She still has it.
Watched the moon landing with my wheelchair bound Grandfather in my grandparent’s kitchen. I can remember my papaw being incredulous and saying it was amazing to go from horse and buggy to landing on the moon in his lifetime.
Armstrong was an amazing, humble man who helped inspire many folks. I was fortunate to work in the space industry for almost 3 decades. Love it! It gets in your blood.
Thank you Neil Armstrong!
We watched it on TV in the living room that evening in Vallejo, CA.
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.
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 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
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)