Fun fact about the moon landing
 

On this day in 1969, man landed on the moon. It was an amazing feat soon followed by an amazing coincidence. In 1964, Alvin Dark, manager of the SF Giants, joked that there will be a man on the moon before Gaylord Perry, the Giants weak-hitting pitcher, hits his first home run. Sure enough, 30 minutes after man landed on the moon five years later, Perry hit his first home run, a shot against the Dodgers. Alvin was right, but just barely.

Haha, that is a fun fact.

That is interesting, Charlie.

52 years ago - and I watched while at the local High's Ice Cream store, in Norfolk. They had a little black and white set there up in one corner of the ceiling.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/content/da...ticle-card.jpg

I watched up in Bellevue, Washington at my Great Uncles home. I was 3.

Earliest memory.

it was a really big thing. I was 15. Our family went to a moon landing party at some family friends. They had a hell of a set up. Multiple TV's. Moon cheese and crackers. Alien punch and mixed drinks. The Cow That Jumped Over the Moon BBQ. A lot of theme decor.

I had a hell of a time.

One of those events that has everybody remembering where they were...

We lived in Hawaii at the time. We ate dinner and gathered around the TV at prime time to watch it.

In the early 1960s dad was on the Air Force presentations team. They traveled the country talking about space flight and the upcoming men landing on the moon. Most of the audience laughed in disbelief when he said that we planned to land men on the moon, and they would use a small portable hand held video camera and beam the images back to Earth live and we could watch from the comfort of our living rooms as men walked on the moon and retrieved samples.

At the time video cameras were mostly seen on TV sets and were on a dolly with wheels.

I spent the night at my friend Fred Ritner‘s house. His dad woke us up to watch, but Fred didn’t wake up. His dad, sister and I watched. I was 10.

So Fred died?

Stanley Kubrick was hired to fake the moon landing footage, but being a perfectionist, he insisted shooting on location.

Well, he didn’t die that night, but die a few years later from cancer.

We lived in Hawaii then too; dad was stationed at Kaneohe MCAS. Mom, dad, and I were in Honolulu that day, popped in to a small liquor/convenience store and huddled around a small (~10-inch) black and white TV with about 8 other people to watch. So proud!

I had scale models of Saturn V, the CM, the Lunar Lander all spread out and re-enacted the whole drama over the ensuing day’s after lift-off right up to splashdown.

Buzz Aldrin used a non-regulation felt tip pen to fix the most important breaker, ascent engine arm.

https://apollo11space.com/apollo-11-broken-switch/

I was 4 years old, and don't remember anything about the moon landing. I do remember seeing the capsule recoveries.

Wow just amazing to hear from those of you who were alive when this happened. I am shocked in one respect at far we have come where just this week a private citizen went to space in his own rocket yet in another at how far we have not come since then, social ills, a global pandemic, etc.... yet here we are are. Despite all that has happened since that day, we are here on earth. Alive to see the sun rise yet again on what in the grand scheme of the universe is a small spec of dust at just the right distance from just the right star to make life possible. Make the most of every day that you can, love life, seek peace where you can, never stop, and God speed to all of us on the good Earth.

Thank you. And back atcha!

I can't help but think a similar accomplishment in this era would not be as universally applauded nor as unifying.

I remember the teachers turning on the TV's in the classrooms to view liftoffs and splash downs. That was cool.

I can't imagine ANY accomplishment that would be universally applauded or unifying these days.

If someone came up with a universal cancer cure, there would be a bunch of folks that would find something to gripe about.

You mean like a cancer vaccine? No way everyone would take it.

We have an EXCELLENT vaccine that prevents a specific cancer. As long as you get the vaccine before you are exposed to the virus, you prevent that cancer.

Unfortunately, the virus is sexually transmitted. And it being a vaccine, the anti-vaxxers are joined by the conservatives who don't think their little boy or girl will ever be sexually active.

First of all, being a Giant fan I know and love the Gaylord story.

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/gaylord-perry-hits-home-run-just-minutes-after-neil-armstrong-moon-landing-c2433

I was 12 and watched the landing at the ranch in California. I was lying on the shag carpet in front of the b/w TV with one of our dogs, mesmerized.

My Dad knew some of the NASA guys from graduate school at MIT and they talked after the mission was over.

I was five, I think I remember the landing? I can't say for sure I remember watching the actual landing or if I remember all the news coverage of the landing?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1626984547.jpg

When they landed (splashed down) back on Earth they were transferred to the "Moon bug" capsule in case they brought back so microbe or virus from the moon.

That capsule with the crew came within two blocks of our house. Of COURSE i rode my bike along side of it as it was taken to the airport to be flown back to Houston.

The newspaper clipping is from Apollo 12. Me riding my Sting Ray bike.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1626984907.jpg

You can see a kid on a bike closest to the capsule. That kid is me. This one was Apollo 11, I waved to them and Niel waved back. I am sure he remembered me!

Boy, they sure went to a lot of trouble to stage that whole thing didn't they..... ;)

Funny that. I have no idea. 2 events stick our in my mind where I can remember where I was and exactly what I was doing: JFK assignation (I believe it was announced over a PA system at college while I was between classes), and the NYC twin towers attack. Saw the 2nd plane live. It was pretty early on the West Coast, like before leaving for work.

I would say the three mentioned were the big three in my life. 2nd grade for JFK. They sent us home early and I think it was on the bus. "Of course your Mom will be home".

I was 16 and watched it on our family's b&w tv. (I think it was a 21 incher...large for it's time):)

I was 10 when JFK happened.

a little coincidence. That day one of our mares gave birth. We named the horse Apollo !

I don't really have any US/World events that stand out as something where I remember where I was. I missed the whole moon thing. I was around for the shuttle, and while that was cool, it didn't seem like that big a deal to me at the time (I was 11). I remember my parents, especially my dad seemed really into the space shuttle launch and landing. I guess it didn't seem that special to me because as a kid there had always been NASA and space travel, and a "plane" seemed completely natural. I'm sure that at 11, I just didn't get how amazing it was compared to the previous methods. Now, for me, the Space-X boosters landing vertically seems like Sci-Fi.

I was 5, watched in on TV at home. I remember it was around lunchtime.

Dad worked for North American Aviation until 1967. He knew a lot of the guys that did the command module.

He also had a really cool metal model of an X-15, I think my brother still has it.

1st step at 10:56 pm eastern time

I mean when they landed, just finished lunch, the climbing out of the thing was after dinner.

Looking back it seemed to me that he stepped off closer to 7 or 8 pm Central than the actual 10 pm, didn't seem to be nearly that late. I have no recollection of when they landed, only the first step.

The moon landing is a vivid memory for me. Glued to the TV. Just as incredulous to me at that age was Bob Beamon breaking the world long jump record by more than 2 feet the previous year in Mexico city

It was pretty late for us in Ohio when he stepped off.

Was at my grandmas house and she was puffing L&M's and drinking Stroh's longnecks.

They almost didn't land the lander.
And when they did, overshot the planned landing spot by miles.
Here's the intense story why:

https://www.wired.com/story/apollo-11-mission-out-of-control/

I was a big fan of Gaylord. He lived in Portola Valley while with the Giants, the town where I went to school. It was probably 1971, when I was 12, when he approached us kids while we were playing baseball at PV School. He asked if he could pitch and of course we said yes. He grooved a slow ball over the middle of the plate and I ripped a line drive into left-center for a stand-up double. So, yeah, I hit a double off a hall of famer.

Tell that to island911. He seems to think they could have landed on a dime.

It took FOREVER between "the Eagle has landed" and "one small step for man"