Where were you when Neil Armstrong stepped off that ladder on to the Moon?

[Faygo Kid]

I was a 17 year old stock boy at Federal's department store on Gratiot in Detroit. All of us - customers and staff - stopped what we were doing, and went into the appliance section where it was aired on multiple TVs of the era. As Walter Cronkite said, Wow.



P.S. I am devastated; he never capitalized on his fame. He was a hero to the whole world.

[louis-t]

45. I thought the landing was on a Sunday?

My dad was home and old neighbors came by.

[WinkyDink]

131. July 20. 1969, WAS a Sunday.

[ChazII]

118. On vacation in Nevada.

Watched the moon landing in our hotel room.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

148. In class in July? Unh hunh

[cbayer]

2. Remember it very, very clearly.

We were on our annual camping vacation and checked into a motel (a huge treat) in order to get access to a TV.

What a thrill it was. It was during a time when we all wanted to be astronauts.

RIP Neil Armstrong. You changed my life.

[pinto]

3. At home, glued to the TV. One small step -

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. Sitting in the living room of my Grandmother's house trying to understand why everybody

was crying and laughing. When I think of what we were and what we've become, I feel ashamed for all of us.

[monmouth]

5. I was on the couch, extremely pregnant, in our beach apartment at the Jersey Shore..n/t

[PatSeg]

89. Oh, I was pregnant too!

Though not "extremely" at that point.

I was at work in the Board of Trade and someone brought in a small black and white television set.

[monmouth]

90. It was an exciting time. My sons were 7 and 8 years old and just in awe...n/t

[PatSeg]

97. It was an exciting time

Both good and bad news on a regular basis. The year before was the Democratic Convention in Chicago and the Chicago 8 trial (my ex used to go watch the trial before he went to work). There was always something going on.

My daughter missed the moon landing being she wasn't born yet. I'll have to ask her if she remembers anything though!

[loyalsister]

216. Just like my mom

I was quite early in my development as I was born in late Dec. But, I take pleasure in the fact that I got here before the end of the year of the moon landing and Woodstock.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. Half a block off Mack Ave. On Detroit's east side.

It was the family home, I was 6.

[Faygo Kid]

9. I'm an East Sider too.

Mom worked many years at Denby High. My childhood church was on Chandler Park Drive. I remember when Eastland opened. I could go on, but you get my drift. I loved my childhood, even without a Dad in the picture, and I still love Detroit and Michigan best of all.

[Motown_Johnny]

40. I went to driver's ed at Denby and to Notre Dame High, right next to Eastland

My last house was half a block off Chandler Park Drive, down near the park. Easy walking distance for the dogs and I.

[Faygo Kid]

67. Me, too, driver's ed at Denby, on that stupid track.

1967, and we drove Dodge cars.

[MrScorpio]

75. Denby was my high school

I'm a alum of that driver's ed track too

[Faygo Kid]

79. Still alive! Mom worked there from @1960-1982. You may recall her.

Girls' locker room. Supported my brother and me all by herself.

You probably didn't know her, but maybe you remember this pic from an earlier post. She also graduated from Denby, 1936.

[MrScorpio]

94. I graduated in '79, so we were there at the same time

This is no accident, it's merely proof positive that I'm within six degrees of separation from everyone. By the way, my great uncle, Joe Louis, once me FDR.

The world in a circle.

[Bertha Venation]

142. Your mom met Eleanor Roosevelt?

[Faygo Kid]

162. Eleanor Roosevelt met my Mom.

Mom was the first woman in the USA to win the War Production Award, and Eleanor Roosevelt went to Detroit to personally congratulate her. It was Huge in the papers and on the radio.

You would have liked Mom. I loved her.

[Bertha Venation]

171. That is so cool!!

I'll bet I would've liked her, too.

[gollygee]

7. My mother's womb

[Occulus]

74. I have you beat: I was split between an ovary and a testicle

[Proud Public Servant]

8. This is my very first memory of an historical moment

I was a couple of months shy of my 7th birthday. I was watching in our rec room with my parents, and maybe my 3-year-old sister. I remember the TV images vividly, but I also remember the tears in both my parents' eyes. When I asked my mom why they were crying, she answered, "you don't understand -- we never thought we'd live to see this." A very moving moment for me, in a lot of different ways.

[flor-de-jasmim]

10. Also glued to the TV

[Aristus]

11. Nine months old. No memory of it...

I was 6 when the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission flew. All the kids were going around school, flashing a thumbs-up and saying "A-Okay!" at each other. A magical time...

[HubertHeaver]

12. PRAB, RVN

Phan Rang Air Base, Viet Nam

We did not have television reception but we did have radio. Listened to the broadcast over AFVN.

[enlightenment]

61. We were in Japan

My dad herded us all into his office and we crowded around the radio, listening. I can still see him sitting at his desk, leaning forward slightly, holding his unlit pipe between his fingers - completely forgotten. His expression was rapt. My mom cheered and my gran grinned like the Cheshire cat. We kids all laughed like we'd just won the lottery.

For just a moment, we all forgot about that war you were fighting. I hope you were able to forget for a moment, too.

[pinboy3niner]

77. Long Binh, Vietnam

In a crowd gathered around a TV.

[TahitiNut]

114. Yup. On an all-expense-paid year-long tour of Southeast Asia.

[pinboy3niner]

120. All that...

...and FREE POSTAGE, too! What a deal!

[glacierbay]

125. And all the C-rats you could eat

hell of a vacation.

[IBEWVET]

156. On the top of a bunker looking up at the moon in awe N/T

[pinboy3niner]

158. Welcome to DU, brother

[TahitiNut]

218. I gotta say, the skies WERE awesome.

Some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I've seen ... sorta like Texas.

[HockeyMom]

13. I was 20 and watching it over Grandma's house

It is very special to me because it was the last time I saw her alive. She passed away after I went home.

Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon was the last world event Grandma lived to see. Now he is dead too. RIP. Neil and Grandma.

[CabCurious]

14. Finally, a topic that makes me feel young

[Fumesucker]

15. A motel lobby somewhere on the way to do an antique show with my mother..

I don't have a clue where it was but we were listening on the radio in the car and when the moment was about an hour away we stopped and went into a motel lobby where they had a TV going with a number of people around it.

[Mr.Bill]

16. Saw it on TV

I was a teenager watching on TV. We lived on a busy four-lane blvd that always had lots of traffic. There was not a car in sight. The whole world was, indeed watching.

[woodsprite]

17. Sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor in Mrs. Maclary's 1st grade class.

We only had so many cart TVs in school, so we crammed three 1st grade classes in that room to see it.

[louis-t]

54. I bet you are remembering the liftoff.

The landing was on Sunday.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

149. In 1st Grade class in July? ?

[LiberalEsto]

18. 17-year-old salesclerk at a W.T. Grants store in Pompton Lakes, NJ

I was in Toys, next to the tv department, where someone turned on to watch the moon landing. Every time one of us had no customers, we would slip over there to watch the grainy black and white images. We were stunned that this was actually happening.

[pinto]

19. (personal aside) My uncle was a mathematician / physicist who worked with a Lincoln Lab team.

They helped plot the course and landing trajectory for Apollo. It was the highlight of his professional life.

[vademocrat]

20. Watching with my family & granddad who remembered hearing about the Wright brothers flight

I was almost 11 years old and that "bookend" has stayed with me - this man was alive for the first manned flight and lived to see men walk on the moon. I've often wondered what I would see when I'm my granddad's age... If we can keep the government out of the hands of those who would destroy it, I may yet live to see men walk on Mars...

This makes me sad - thank you Neil Armstrong, and NASA, for a young child's dreams!

[Celebration]

21. my mother in law's house

I took a Polaroid photo of the TV. I wonder where that photo is now?

[elfin]

22. in family room with hubby - woke up three week old son

To " watch" it.

Held my breath and then cheered.

[CottonBear]

23. Chattanooga, TN. I was six years old. I will never forget it. RIP Mr. Armstrong. nt.

[Cleita]

24. At home watching it on TV like everyone else.

I had a hard time believing it was real.

[zappaman]

25. Sitting in a school room auditorium

With a bunch of other kids watching it live.
Never forget it...

[WinkyDink]

132. It was a SUNDAY.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

151. A Sunday in July. Never forget what?

[eShirl]

209. you sure that wasn't for Apollo 13?

[libinnyandia]

26. We were having a family picnic. I told my niece this was something she could tell her grandchildren.

She said she didn't have any grandchildren. She does now.

[niyad]

27. sitting on the living room floor, glued to the tv, and wishing I were there

(I read a LOT of sci-fi back then, and wanted space travel to be a reality)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. 2:56 UTC July 21, 1969. How were so many kids in school in the middle of the night?

I was at home, allowed to stay up late and watch. It was 10:56 PM EDT, almost 11 pm, at night.

How were so many kids at school at 11 pm EDT, 10 pm CDT, 9 pm MDT, 8 pm PDT?

[HubertHeaver]

42. Thought I remembered it being daylight.

Saigon is UTC +7 which would make local time 09:56.

[gateley]

52. I just looked it up -- they landed at 4 - something EDT, that must be what

a lot of us are remembering. The wait for Armstrong to exit must have seemed like an eternity!


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo11/index.html

[louis-t]

59. They landed in the afternoon but it was hours before they got out.

And it WAS a Sunday. The people who thought they were in school are probably remembering the liftoff on previous Wed.

[gateley]

76. Yeah, and now I'm thinking my memory is of the landing, not Armstrong's

small/giant step. I'm also not sure if I have a memory of the step, or just a memory I call up after having seen the footage countless times.

My question to those in class -- what were you doing in school in July?

[Lifelong Protester]

53. Yeah, I recall it being at night

I lived in Minnesota.


So I don't know what those kids in school were watching.


I do recall a few articles in the newspaper about how to set up your camera so you could photograph your TV screen.


We had a big, black box of a BW Television. That is what we watched it on.

[louis-t]

57. I believe they are remembering the liftoff on Wed.

July 16.

[graham4anything]

66. people's memories are funny, aren't they?

for me personally, 1969 was a magical year, what with the moonwalk, the Mets, Jets and Knicks and Tom Seaver's flirting with a no-hitter ruined by a nobody and all the great music that came out that year.

but also one of strife and bad events too (ala Teddy)

the moon walk and moon landing were something that seemed to fascinate just about everyone in the world at that time, the world stopping and coming as one, watching like little kids going to FAO Schwartz with their mouths hanging open in awe and wonderment.

[HubertHeaver]

214. That was first step.

The lander hit the moon 6 hours earlier. That would explain the confusion.

[treestar]

215. Yeah, all I remember about it was being allowed to get up in what seemed to be the middle of the

night. I must have been too sleepy to really get it. I was 10.

[fleur-de-lisa]

29. Sitting in the living room with my dad . . .

I was just a little kid, but he always pulled our family together to watch any space news. He was a space nut. I remember he kept us awake one school night, until about ten, to watch some footage of some space event. Don't remember what it was . . . he wanted us to watch all of them. Great memories . . . thanks for reminding us!

[lunatica]

30. I and all the school were in the library glued to the tv.

I feel so very sad right now.

He was a giant along with all the astronauts before and after him, but it was his words that the world will never forget.

Thank you sir for being the person who made one of our best American history moments happen.

[WinkyDink]

134. It was a SUNDAY.

[lunatica]

138. You're right!

Crap! Thanks for reminding me! The time I was in the library at school was when John Glen orbited the earth. Duh! I was given the task of holding the globe and pointing out where he was flying over.

I know I watched Armstrong land. I was living in Mexico. But now I'm confused about where I was. I know there were a bunch of people there. Geez, I've always remembered it as being at school.

You just ruined my day.

[juajen]

176. My brother worked for GE/NASA at the time and on all the Apollo missions. He was in quality control.

I remember this well. What the people who remember it from school are probably remembering is it being shown at school. It was shown a lot, as I recall, though I was out of school and a young married mom. A lot of kids missed it, and teachers all over the world were showing it. I have the original moon recording. It is a prized possession.

[lunatica]

207. Thanks for that. I was sure I was at school

And I was in Mexico City.

[eShirl]

212. If you remember being at school, it was probably the Apollo 13 mission

I know I have more vivid memories of that, due to it being such a nail-biter that gripped the world consciousness for days on end.

PS and there were other Apollo missions that, like Apollo 11, involved successfully landing & walking on the moon, if watching astronauts on the moon is what you specifically remember.

[lunatica]

213. Armstong hopping off the ladder onto the ground has been played a million times

So that's the most familiar scene for everyone. Whether I saw it when it actually happened or not I don't know. I do remember seeing it for the first time, but now I don't remember if it was when it happened or whether I was seeing a re-run of it.

I guess it doesn't really matter when. It matters that it made a huge impression and that everyone was fascinated and thrilled by it.

[hedgehog]

31. Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I was in the dorm for a group of

people providing day care for the children of migrant farm workers. Things are a bit better now than they were then, but not much better!

[Atman]

32. Watching the TV...

But I was standing on the beach watching when the rocket took off.

.

[Panasonic]

33. Probably just a simple cell somewhere....

[spanone]

34. on the back poor with my girlfriend and her dad watching it on teevee

we've been married over 36 years now....and her dad just left us in march

[Ichingcarpenter]

35. I was in my parents car outside of Aztec New Mexico driving to Colorado

We had to listen to it on the car radio, there were no places to stop
to watch it on TV

[shanti]

93. i was in a car too, listening to it the radio

i think we were somewhere in oregon, traveling on a family vacation to washington from cali. i was 14.

[DippyDem]

36. I was a teenager, too

I was totally fascinated by the powerful Saturn V lift off. Such enormous power! And then I was wowed again watching the first step on the moon by Armstrong on live TV. Totally mesmerized. RIP Neil Armstrong.

[Initech]

37. It happened about 11 years before I was born.

[FLyellowdog]

38. Visiting my parents...sitting on the sofa holding my month old daughter.

I woke the baby up so I could always say she was a part of that moment. I'm so glad I did even if she didn't go back to sleep for an hour or so.

[gateley]

39. At my summer job in the pool office at a country club. I was alone and couldn't make out the images

very well -- it was in the basement, poor reception. But I remember feeling it was really hard to wrap my head around -- we were on the MOON! I was 16.

Why were so many of you in school -- it was summer.

[backscatter712]

41. Not born yet. :( But Neil Armstrong, and everyone at NASA who worked on Apollo, are true heroes.

RIP, Neil!

[pinto]

51. Agree. It was a huge undertaking, involving hundreds of people in an array of fields.

Armstrong was admiral, imo, in his recognition of all those who were involved in the achievement.

[outsideworld]

43. still dont think

they really went to the moon...

[Shankapotomus]

48. really?

why not?

welcome to du.

[HubertHeaver]

49. I was waiting for that one.

Got a deathbed confession?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

58. Please, don't start here, now. Please.

[Faygo Kid]

65. And the president was born in Kenya, right?

[kestrel91316]

71. There's a special forum on DU for you flat earthers, IIRC.

Are you aware that the Apollo landing sites have been photographed from orbit by various craft in recent years???

[Posteritatis]

106. That's some weapons-grade deliberate ignorance, right there. (nt)

[Zoeisright]

110. Oh for god's sake.

Just go away.

[glacierbay]

126. Ditto that.

[hobbit709]

116. What's the other nine impossible things you believe before breakfast?

[Posteritatis]

123. Being stupid enough to be an Apollo denier probably counts as six or seven impossibles. (nt)

[Confusious]

172. Time for this again...

[chknltl]

119. Fan of Alex Jones?

Would not surprise me if he does not believe that we went to the moon either. I am pretty sure that there isn't a conspiracy theory that he hasn't promoted. To each their own I guess. Welcome to the Democratic Underground.

[RKP5637]

170. Alex Jones - LOL - even conspiracy theories on steroids does not describe Alex Jones. n/t

[chknltl]

180. Sadly, he pulls in all too many who should be voting for Democrats.

He turns them into Ron Paul, free market idiots. At best, we in the DU only make fun of him but truth be told, he is robbing us hard of voters. I take him seriously, no not his daily baloney but I take him seriously as a threat to our democracy in the same way I take Rush Limbaugh as a serious threat to our democracy.

[RKP5637]

200. And on top of that we have Glenn Beck. A real problem is the human psyche for many drifts

toward this crap because it's apparently intriguing to some human minds, but the sad part is they truly believe it ... damn, but there are so many obstacles to truth anymore, and the casual individual/mind gets sucked in.

[pinboy3niner]

124. Maybe on your planet they didn't, outsideworld

[Confusious]

173. Time for this again....

[Warren DeMontague]

177. Really? ...Are you serious?

Anyway, have you seen these? Taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, in the past few years:










Guess they're fake, too.

As are the repeated experiments done in the past 40+ years involving bouncing lasers off the ALSEP reflectors left by the Apollo Astronauts, to gauge the distance from the Earth to the Moon within the centimeter.

[Codeine]

206. Then you're an idiot. nt

[abolugi]

44. I was 5 years old

camping in the backyard with all my brothers and sister "watching" him.
It was great and I will always remember it. One of my best all time memories!
RIP

[Shankapotomus]

46. probably getting my diaper changed (nt)

[underpants]

47. I was 2. My mom tells me that I watched on TV.

[Aerows]

50. I wasn't born yet

But it was still a great step for humanity

[madamesilverspurs]

55. San Pedro CA, at Ports o'Call

One of the merchants had brought a TV into his shop, we all crowded around it to watch. Afterward, we all went outside and stood there looking up at the moon. Old, young, men, women, kids, we all just stood there grinning and looking at the moon.

-

[chloes1]

56. I was 8 mos old

so, it's quite likely that I was getting a diaper change as well!

[CrispyQ]

60. I was ironing & watching it all on TV.

I ironed for extra cash as a kid. If I wanted to watch TV, I set up in our big farmhouse LR. If I wanted to listen to music I set up in our huge kitchen. It was an idyllic time.

on edit:

[Ms. Toad]

62. In the basement of our home,

crowded around the grainy black and white TV with my parents and siblings.

For years I've been reluctant to do the math - because I remember (or think I do) the setting so clearly. I have been afraid my memory is not quite real, as this thread suggests some others aren't. I know when we moved to that house and I have been afraid that the event occurred before we moved there.

...my memories of Lee Harvey Oswald are from replays years later, because the setting I "remember" for those (from when I was 7) is the basement of the house we did not move to until I was 11.

Memories are funny things - sometimes so vivid, even when they are not true to life.

[slackmaster]

63. I was in the back seat of a 1965 Oldsmobile Cutlass heading west on Interstate 8

About five miles east of Ocotillo, CA. It was raining; remnants of a tropical storm.

[kestrel91316]

64. In my grandparents' living room in Ft Collins, CO. With the whole family,

eyes glued to a very grainy black and white TV screen, barely able to understand the radio transmissions for the static.

[We are Devo]

68. At home with my mom...

I was 4 and I still remember watching it on our little b&w tv. I went outside that night to look and the moon and tried to see them

[jberryhill]

129. I did that too

[MrScorpio]

69. I was a few miles away in my house on McDougall and Mullett, FK, watching it on TV

[annabanana]

70. In Italy.. accepting all kinds of undeserved congratulations!

It was seen as an AMERICAN achievement . .

[WCGreen]

72. In my sisters bed room....

We were all in there because she was sick and she wanted to watch. She was a little bit of a girl, just turned 8, and she was scrappy, almost a tom boy. Of course having two older brothers who adored her had a lot to do with that...

It was hard to make it out on the crappy TV set we had, but it was still one of the most exciting events in my life.

[LadyHawkAZ]

73. I was -3 years old at the time n/t

[MFM008]

78. 9

Was going on 10. Standing in the livingroom of my best friend at the time. I remember watching the endless looking sea of moon surface as they came down, thinking...this is boring. Then we went into her bedroom and listened to Paul Revere and the Raiders.

[Faygo Kid]

80. Welcome to DU! Paul Revere and the Raiders were the Bomb.

[pinboy3niner]

165. Last I heard they were still touring, doing great shows

I saw them perform near the Wall in D.C. 10 or 11 years ago, and it was a fantastic show! Paul likes to do the Ride to the Wall for Veterans' Day, and they did a 'Ride to the Wall' album with their hits and great covers of CCR and other '60s classics. I should probably look up their website again...

[glacierbay]

81. Chu Lai, RVN.

We listened to it on the Armed Forces Radio station.

[Faygo Kid]

84. Thank you for your service, sir.

I drew lottery number 247 in 1970, and didn't have to go. You did. Mitt sat out the war in France. I would like your opinion on all of it, respectfully.

[glacierbay]

95. If you mean my opinion on Mittens

he's not qualified to be CIC of dogcatchers and his sons are a fucking joke also. If you mean the moon landing, just fucking awesome, didn't get to see it as we didn't have a tv in our hootch but we did get to listen to it.
Thank you for the kind words.

[TahitiNut]

113. Long Binh Post, USARV HQ

[glacierbay]

115. Welcome home brother

[pinboy3niner]

160. Long Binh Post, USARV Special Troops HQ

Not far from you, brother. How come you never invited me over?

[TahitiNut]

217. As we discussed, we probably 'knew' each other (on sight, at least).

Daily treks between the DSC and my hooch above the arms room usually took me past Special Troops HQ, not to mention the times I went in for promotions and other administrivia.

Long live the Mickey Mouse sandbag brigade!

[RKP5637]

82. At school, sitting in an apt. with my roommates. n/t

[jimlup]

83. Definitely one of my favorite astronauts

Who were of course my boyhood heros. Neil Armstrong always kept a low profile. He was the very best but he never flouted it.

[Crabby Appleton]

85. Long Binh, Vietnam

Had been in Vietnam 11 1/2 months, 20 years old. Heard about the moon landing, no TV to watch it.

[MANative]

86. I was eight...

Sitting on the floor with my two younger brothers, and my parents behind us on the sofa, all with eyeballs fixed to our black and white television. I remember that I was wearing yellow pajamas.

[smokey nj]

87. I was a week away from being born.

[FightingIrish]

88. In a bachelor pad in Sunnyvale, California that I shared with other naval flight officers and pilots

We would alternatively stare at the TV and then step into the back yard to look at the moon. We obviously couldn't see anything. Just knowing what was happening on the moon made it seem like the thing to do.

[lunasun]

91. with my dear dad and brothers . Dad was so excited the next day he bought

photos of the moon walk and landing that folks were selling on the street
when he came home with them we were like 'wow'

[LiberalLoner]

92. I was seven

One week before I turned 8. Watched tv all day long, so thrilled and excited. Saw the moon rock at the National Air and Space museum later that year. Oh I miss the optimism and energy and community of those days.

[lostnote12]

96. I was in studio B cleaning up the Arizona "moon dust".....j/k...RIP our nations hero...

[WCIL]

98. We lived in military housing in Spring Valley, NY

My parents were so excited that they woke a 4 year old me and my 2 year old sister so we could watch. I don't remember it, but I can say I saw it.

[oldhippie]

99. I watched it in French ....

.... I was in the TV room of our Frat House at Clarkson College (now University) in way upstate NY. The only TV stations we got were from Montreal. We could hear Walter Cronkite's voice dimly in the background, but it was being translated into French. I will never forget it.

[DearAbby]

100. I was 13 yrs old.

nearly 14. I brought home a stray puppy that day. I stayed up all night, to the wee hours of the morning. My sister grew bored waiting, went to bed.

I stayed up, with my new puppy in my lap and I watched him take that giant leap for mankind. My mind soared! I imagined everyone in the world watching, focusing on that grainy image, imaging we were right there.

[Faygo Kid]

103. Hope you kept that puppy.

And that it had a long, loving life.

[Bertha Venation]

145. Nice.

[Doc_Technical]

101. I was 17 years old and was a cook at a steakhouse.

There was no television there but the good news was we had
only 4 or 5 customers the whole shift.

[TBF]

102. I remember Sesame Street but I was a little too young

to remember this - nearly 3.

[TrogL]

104. At the next door neighbors house

They had color tv and better reception

[RC]

105. Sitting at the TV control board of

KFYR-TV in Bismarck ND

I was so disappointed when he pointed that B/W vidicon camera at the sun and burned the pickup tube out.

[cpwm17]

107. I was 8 and I have no memory of it!

We had no TV.

I remember sitting on our neighbors porch so I could listening to their TV during a subsequent moon walk, so I was interested in the space program.

I do remember a number of the later missions very well after we got a TV.

[regnaD kciN]

108. Sitting in a TV lounge in a hotel in Paris...

It was around 3 AM; I had just turned 13 that summer.

I remember the French announcer translating the "one small step..." line as "I'm stepping on the surface now."

[Zoeisright]

109. Watching it in our family room.

My dad made us watch it, and I'm very glad he did.

[chknltl]

111. Sitting in front of a grainy black and white only TV

...in Berlin Germany. Armed Forces Television Service (AFRTS), only ran for half a day and only broadcast in black and white. Our family sat enthralled watching history as it was made, courtesy of AFRTS Berlin.

[LeftishBrit]

112. Sitting at my home, watching it on our black and white TV..

very young, but will always remember the excitement, and how strangely they walked due to the weak gravity. My dad ran out into the garden with the telescope, half expecting the moon to look different. We had relations staying with us, and even my 2-year-old cousin was caught up in the excitement, repeating over again, 'Moon! Moon! Moon!'

[auburngrad82]

117. Nine years old in Columbus, GA

sitting in the den with my parents and brothers watching it happen on the television.

43 years later I still remember it.

[ananda]

121. Watching it on TV.

It was pretty amazing!

[1-Old-Man]

122. Sitting in a bar in Colorado Springs, sipping a beer with a friend.

I was stationed at Fort Carson at the time.

[greatauntoftriplets]

127. Home sick with a strep throat.

I was 19 at the time.

[graywarrior]

128. Probably taking my own space trip on LSD

[WinkyDink]

130. "At 4:18 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969, the landing module landed...." SUNDAY.

So there's your time-frame.

[AsahinaKimi]

133. I was a "Twinkle in my daddy's eye"

wasn't born yet.

[flamingdem]

135. camp Nellie Huckins

let's see if anyone else went there..

[Earth_First]

136. I was -11 years old...

My folks were probably still chasing Kesey, Kerouac and Garcia around the countryside at that point...

[rurallib]

137. Working at an interstate gas station in Iowa

told people that I was watching the moon landing and they were welcome to join me.
Think we had 15 or 20 people from all across America watching a really grainy 13 inch B&W picture.
We all cheered, who could forget that cheer? Then we went on about our business.
It is like that moment is still suspended in time.

[Mad_Dem_X]

139. It's my earliest memory...

I was 2-1/2. I remember standing in the middle of the living room and watching it on TV. My mother was behind me, either sitting in her chair or standing up ironing, 8 months pregnant with my little sister.

[LWolf]

140. In front of the tv.

And later, out in the street with all the neighbors, staring up into the sky.

[Catherine Vincent]

141. Probably celebrating one of my sister's 10th birthday

I was 8 at the time and I don't remember watching it on tv.

[Alduin]

143. An undeveloped sperm in my father's testicles.

[NNN0LHI]

144. Flipping burgers at a Dog 'n Suds Drive-In

[SteveG]

146. Sitting in my Girlfriends apartment

with her, her roommates and their boyfriends in Rehoboth, DE. We had wine, beer, snacks and a small B&W TV with a not real great picture since we only had rabbit ear antenna, and the tv station was about 40 miles away.

[asjr]

147. In Marietta Ga with my two oldest children.

[rppper]

150. My family was stationed in panama.....

My father was a green beret, teaching special ops/jungle warfare at the school of Americas during that part of the vietnam war...i was not quite 3....i don't remember the particulars of this launch, but i do remember the following ones. i had a poster of Armstrong showing him on the moon from a front view....damn, all my childhood heroes are leaving us.....thanks for the inspiration to me and my generation Neil! i am truly saddened today for our nations loss.....

[nadinbrzezinski]

153. On dad's shoulders at the Sport Center in Mexico City

Actually one of my earliest memories...it s amazing since I was three and a half...

[kwassa]

154. I found it peculiarly undramatic.

I saw it at home, I was 17. I think I expected something more exciting.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

155. I had to hear it on the radio

We were at my grandmother's place in northern Minnesota, and she didn't have a TV.

[Gabi Hayes]

157. losing my virginity

Linda?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

159. I would have sworn the TV cut from a Cubs game to the landing but...

...given all the other challenged memories in this thread, I may be mistaken.

[darkangel218]

161. I didnt exist

Lol :p

[liberal N proud]

163. Sitting in front of the TV

Glued to the event, enthralled by the news anchors. We had to run out side and look up at the moon. Kind of a wow moment, we knew it was one of the big moments in all of history. A human stepped on an alien planet.

[Homer Wells]

164. At the Can Tho Army Airfield in South Viet Nam

I was working the overnight shift at the Commo Shack.
I think it was somewhere towards 4:00 AM. They had one TV there in a hanger down from where I was working.
Quite a night!!!!

[IDemo]

166. A 12 year old at summer camp

My dad had died two months previously in a plane crash. He had been a huge fan of the space program and had taken us to see capsules and space hardware at Downey (I believe, been way too many years). My thrill at the landing was tempered by my wistfulness that he had not survived to see this incredible day.

[Greybnk48]

167. In Holly Springs Mississippi for my Grand-dads funeral.

My sis and I spent days on end in the hospital sitting with him after a massive stroke. We missed the whole thing on t.v. and there really wasn't much talk about it that I can recall. He died and we had to plan the funeral for my Grandma, etc. I was living in Ocean City New Jersey at the time and I don't really remember much talk about it when I got home. But I was sad, so I may have blocked it.

I've sure seen it enough now. What an amazing feat!

[WillyT]

168. Watching It On A Zenith Black & White, In Sacramento, With Our Entire Family, On The Couch

Remember Zenith ???





& Rec !!!

[rexcat]

174. We also had a Zenith black & white TV...

I was 17 watching it at home.

[WillyT]

178. I Was 14...

[rexcat]

182. The cool thing about the space program...

was my father ran the Technical Facilities at the Areopropulsion Laboratories at WPAFB in Dayton at the time. His lab developed the pneumatic tools, backpack and maneuvering wand for the Gemini program. My godfather was one of the original engineers on the Apollo module with Boeing. My dad and he were roommates in college at the University of Washington. I got a ton of NASA pictures and literature from my dad when he would travel to NASA facilities.

[WillyT]

185. My Old Man Was A Marine B-25 Pilot In The SouthPacific In WWII, And Was A Democrat And Journalist...

He got many photos from his friends at NASA...

As a kid, I was thrilled beyond words.

Plus... we had AeroJet just down the road... you could hear them testing those rocket engines.

[rexcat]

187. I was stationed at Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach, FL...

and worked in the laboratory at the hospital and we were part of Medical Operations for Manned Space. I was there for Apollo 17 which was the last Apollo mission. We were sitting at the NCO club drinking beers the night of the launch. We were 20 miles down range from the pad. The sky lit up like it was day and we could feel the tremors of the rocket motors underneath us. I have my DOD certificates on the wall in my home office for the missions I participated in. I love the space program. It is ashame that we have all but abandoned it.

My dad was an F86 pilot but when he got orders to fly in the Korean War they ended the war before he got over there. My godfather was in SeaBee in the Navy and did the island hoping thing with the Marines in WWII. I also had a great uncle who survived the Batan Death March and was one of the last POWs in Japan to be released. There is a lot of military history with our family. I put four years in and got the hell out. I still have a sour taste in my mouth with the military thing and I got out in 1975.

[WillyT]

191. I Hear Ya... My Dad Got "Sucked" Into Korea... His Words... Thought WWII Would Be The End Of War...

And I missed the Vietnam draft lottery by 1 year.

[rexcat]

193. My draft number in 1971 was 18...

and decided that the Army or Marines would be a free trip to Southeast Asia which I was not interested in so I joined the Air Force.

[Brewinblue]

169. Nine years old at home with my parents, siblings

other family and friends. My parents threw a moon landing party. Remember it distinctly, and remember confusion at first as to what Armstrong said. The announcer on whatever channel we watched initially quoted the immortal line as "one giant leap for science."

[RandySF]

175. My parents were dating.

And I was still waiting my turn to swim.

[darkangel218]

181. lol

[steve2470]

183. 10 years old, hotel room, Spokane Washington

I was with my parents and brother. One of those moments you never forget.

[beveeheart]

184. With a bunch of other

high school French teachers attending an NDEA summer course at Washington and Lee in Lexington, VA. We all had to pledge to only speak French during the 8 week session, but I think we broke the pledge that day. I remember that our professors from France were very impressed.

[jdadd]

186. In the day room of the enlisted Student Battalion,

Fort Sill Oklahoma. Watching on an old B/W console TV.....We had to close all the curtains, and turn off the lights, in order to see a picture on that set....

[KatyaR]

188. I was 12 years old, sitting in my cousin's living room, eating dinner on a TV tray.

My mom was in the hospital after having emergency surgery a few days before, she was terribly ill. My dad and i had gone into town to see her, and my cousin asked us to stop by and have dinner with them. That memory is as clear as day, we were all just absolutely amazed at what was happening. My poor mom, she was a teacher and totally missed it because she was so sick.

His death is such a loss, it just reminds me how few space heroes we have now. Space exploration was such an incredible thing back then, I wish so much of NASA wasn't on the chopping block.

[Kali]

189. this is a great thread, thanks for starting it

my memories may be false as some others seem to be but us kids and maybe my Mother where here at the ranch, that is almost a given unless we were on the Hopi Reservation. But I seem to have the black and white television in the back room in view and of course Walter Cronkite's voice. Possibly a replay now morphed into a memory. There must have been something we watched at school as well because I have that memory too.

I am positive we watched the Watergate hearings in that back room on that old teevee. Sigh, this would be something I would immediately call Mother to ask about. She died in 1996. Miss her more than ever.

[CabCurious]

190. +1

[Terra Alta]

192. I was minus 11 years old.

My parents were in junior high, and were about 7-8 years away from meeting each other.

RIP Armstrong.

[BeyondGeography]

194. Yankee Stadium, Bat Day

An announcement was made, we all stood and cheered and raised our bats in the air and sang God Bless America. The Washington Senators were in town. I was few months shy of my 10th birthday.

[madrchsod]

195. working at the factory...

they brought out a small black and white tv for anyone who wanted to watch...i must say it was one of those things i`ll never forget

[Jennicut]

196. My parents were only 21 and newly engaged.

Unfortunately when I think of the space program my earliest memory is the Challenger explosion. I missed the moon landing by 6 years. Wish I had been alive to see it.

[arely staircase]

197. breastfeeding

seriously, i just asked my mom.

[Canuckistanian]

198. I was camping at the time

No TV, no radio.

All I heard was the Americans had landed. I was so frustrated, even at 11 years old.

But I was so proud.

[TheMadMonk]

199. Going outside to dig a "shadow" with NOTHING in it. /nt

[virgdem]

201. I was 17 years old...

and watching it with a friend over at her house.

[rateyes]

202. I was a 9 yr old watching on TV at home.

[Bucky]

203. I was a pre-k kid in New Orleans.

I immediately switched my answer to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" from cowboy to astronaut. The following year my family moved to Houston and I was sure my year long dream of becoming as astronaut was one step closer to becoming true.

Then my dad told me about the studio where they faked the whole thing and so I changed my answer to that question again -- I wanted to be the guy who worked the wires that made it look like the astronauts were in a low-G environment.

[Courtesy Flush]

204. In Shriners Hospital in Shreveport

I was scheduled for surgery the next day, and my mom and grandmother drove up from Baton Rouge to be with me. There was no real footage of it. They aired an artist's conception (maybe models) in real time while playing the NASA audio.. We watched in on the black and white TV in the big boys ward.

I was nine years old.

[Codeine]

205. I was about two months along.

One hopes my mom was watching.

[avebury]

208. Summer camp. nt

[noel711]

210. Illinois State University

Sitting in the living room of friend's rented house,
trying to stay awake. The guys were kinda drunk,
and we girls were trying to be interested..
but the tv reception was lousey.
Went back to the dorm and crashed.

This was a lovely distraction to the noisy, demonstration filled
summer of 'love.'

Good times..

[Gabby Hayes]

211. Taking a picture of the television set in our living room

My parents said the flash would wash out the pix, and I told them it didn't matter.

PS -- I framed the front page of the paper the next day, and it has been hanging on the wall ever since.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

219. One thing I remember is that the Soviet Union

sent official congratulations. They were good sports in that respect.