Moon Day

Today is a day that I will never forget.  For that matter, anyone who was living in 1969, will never forget this day.

The Summer of '69 was not a happy one for me.  The previous year, 1968 had been a year filled with strife, riots and killings of major historical figures.  These events were difficult for children to understand and I was still a child.  I could not comprehend why anyone would kill a Christian minister(April 4, Martin Luther King, age 39) and a presidential candidate(June 5, Bobby Kennedy, age 42).  I would not understand the historical value of these two men until many years later.  The Vietnam war raged on and there were riots in most major cities of the United States due to the murder of Dr. King.  These images were bombarded on our television screens which (thankfully) some of us were still watching in black and white.

The one positive thing that seemed to dominate the news was the upcoming moon walk.  We questioned the possibility.  How could this be?  The news covered each and every NASA flight.  We knew the names of all the astronauts on the flights.  Our schools would roll in the television sets so that we could see the various space walks.  The Moon Landing was something that we were excited about and looking forward to.

The Summer of '69 arrived and we were barraged with instructions on how to take photos of the moon landing.  I remember my father preparing his camera, making sure that there was film in it, he took practice shots, had them developed to see the results.  (In those days our cameras were not digital, they used film and film needed to be developed.)  The big challenge in taking photos from the television screen was the use of a flash.  The flash would reflect onto the TV screen and the photograph would be ruined.  These were the more mundane concerns of the Summer of '69.  Would men land on the moon and would my father be able to take a photo of men landing on the moon.

The day arrived and our family watched with such excitement.  We sat around the television set and no one spoke a word.  We wanted to hear every word that the Frank Reynolds had to say.  Frank Reynolds* would explain each and every detail of the lunar module and we were mesmerized.  (Everything that I ever learned about space I learned from Frank Reynolds.  I can still hear the sound of his voice in my head explaining every little detail) Dad took his pictures, using an entire roll of film...there were 12 shots!

The photos didn't come out, they were all thrown away...eventually.  I laugh as I write this because things have changed so much.  Today we would simply pull out our smart phones and take video and photos without worry of the flash or the number of shots that we could take.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"    These words by Neil Armstrong would be etched in our vernacular for the rest of our lives.  They would, also, be misquoted...a lot.

Neil A. Armstrong, Commander, Apollo 11

Our interest in the moon landing and the astronauts didn't end on July 20, 1969.  We watched the news and the special reports to see them come back down to earth.  The command module would be separated from the service module...etc.  There would be a few minutes when we would lose all contact with the astronauts as they were re-entering our atmosphere.  Everyone would take a big sigh of relief when we gained contact again.  Coming back to Earth  was no easy feat since they landed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and there was always the possibility of burning up while entering Earth's atmosphere!  After "splashdown" it might take quite a while to locate the pod and once the men emerged from the capsule they would be quarantined for three weeks to ensure that they had not returned with any undesirable lunar microbes.

The crew of Apollo 11:  Neil Armstrong, Commander;  Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot, Edwin "Buzz" E. Aldrin, Jr., Lunar Module Pilot.

Photos courtesy of Pixabay.

These are simply memories.  Ones which I will never forget.  Please don't read this expecting scientific knowledge, they are simply the memories of a very eventful day in the life of a child.  Click here for a more accurate and historical account of Apollo 11.

*No Joke...I can still hear the voice of Frank Reynolds in my head.

Ana Maria Batista