History 40 years ago today

If you were alive 40 years ago, you were probably listening to coverage of man's first steps on the moon. My brother and I had our bike at LIONS doing some tune up runs for Bonneville. I was in the pits mixing fuel when they stopped the racing, and broadcast the coverage. When Neil Armstrong uttered his famous words, the whole place erupted in loud cheering. We were all proud of our country, and what we had done. What a great day!!

 

Yes! Back in the days when the President of the United States INSPIRED a country! (Kennedy, he started the Man on the Moon Project) Think I'll list those 40 year old newspapers on eBay, I need Bonneville gas money.

 

I was enjoying a tropical vacation compliments of Uncle Sugar in Udorn, Thailand...watched the landing in the dayroom of our barracks...... Yeah 37Kid, Nixon REALLY inspired me!......sheeesh.

 

Similarly, I watched it in a dayroom of a HQ Co. in Ft. Bliss Tx.

 

I was not alive then, but I do work on our country's space program. It's amazing how cynical we've become as a nation towards space exploration. I really wish I could have experienced a day when we were praised for our feats in science and engineering rather than be looked upon as money wasters.

 

i was 9 years old and thought it was cool as a mofo! now thats a fuckin moonwalk!!

 

I remember it well. It was a great time to be alive. It seemed everyone was proud to be an American. How sad to see how much things have changed in 40 years. Today, it couldn't compete with MJ's death.
They were heroes though, and here's another reason why Buzz will always be a hero to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU

 

I knew that would be taken wrong, in spite of his flaws Kennedy got the Man on the Moon deal started, and starting the project is what I was talking about. Set a goal, industry made the advancements and by the end of the decade we had a guy walking on the moon.

 

I was in a Navy school in Vallejo CA, and we had a national holiday the next day to celebrate. The feeling that we could do anything if we tried (still left over from WWII) was very much alive.

 

no one can prove they did it..no one can prove they didnt.with out a shaddow of a doubt, (alot of Controversy over it)..im wondering why in 40 friggen years we havent been back?..things that make ya go Hummm?..i was like 6 when the news coverage of this went down.

 

I have an entire copy of the LA Times collected away from the next day's coverage.

I was working in the county offices in Redondo Beach at the time and everything stopped there too to listen to some of the news coverage.

 

I too was in the military watching with my buddies off base in Oxnard Ca. It was a real pick me up for our nation.

 

I was four months old, my mother told me she woke me up. Wish I was older so I could remember.

 

even the hamb has tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists.


costs shiteload of money to go back to a place we realized was nothing but a dustbowl. We no longer even need men to do these explorations ala the mars rover!

 

We had finally beaten the Russians in the space race and they have never gotten over it! When we Americans put our minds to a task there's nothing we can't do--and do well.

 

I didnt say what side of the fence i was on...

 

of course it did.

 

And what exactally was the point in going to the moon ?

 

I was two months old, don't remember a thing.

I remember reading about it later and see the film clips and thinking what an achievement it was.

I asked my newphew who is 14 how cool it was and he looked up from his Nintendo DS and said "yeah, rad" and went back into video land. He probably was thinking it was really old history and that I am lame.

 

If you have to ask......

 

I watched the coverage from the TV in my flight line work area. I got to see the Airstream enclosure with the 3 HEROS inside when it arrived at Hickam AFB. It was a great day. I BELIEVED IT HAPPENED and STILL DO.
And we went to the moon many times before they finally stopped the program.
NOT JUST ONCE.

 

I agree!

 

What if I changed the question to this?

"And what exactly was the point in "Hot Rodding" cars"?

Just be glad we did.
What would the World be like without Space Food sticks and Tang??

To anyone in the SF Bay Area,a visit to the USS Hornet is a MUST SEE! http://www.uss-hornet.org/exhibits/apollo/

 

I was home on leave from Ft. Leanord Wood, Mo. Was to go back the end of August to the 5th Engineer Bttln. Got drafted May 7, 69.
I saw where McNamara (sp?) died last week. I didn't shed too many tears.

 

was 13--glued to the TV

 

I was 19 and watched the live broadcast at my girlfriends house.

I was blown away with how far we came in such a short period of time,,,and how crude by todays standards the whole space program was. HRP

 

We've been there 6 different times. There is no controversy.

 

First of all, exploration is part of humanities make-up.
Second, it actually had perceived-at-the-time national security issues. (Commies on the moon seemed to have bring a dark overlord idea)
Third- When I did research for my informational speech in college, I found that in 1990 dollars that the technologies spun off from the space program was accountable for over 70 billion in US sales dollars annually. Most of the advances in medical machinery that save lives now came from the space program. Computers made a giant leap from the space program, etc. etc. etc.
Today is a day to be a proud American. Revel in it, we get so few opportunities to do so lately.
(BTW I was 112 when the walked on the moon and still can picture the moment on our old BW TV, as well as having the LA Times I bought that day)

 

In all seriousness, we had to beat the Russians. Those of us old enough to remember the Cold War and how close we came, on more than one occasion, to nuking all living things out of existence, remember full well how important it was to BEAT THE RUSSIANS to the moon. They were first to put an object in orbit (Sputnik), first to get a man in space (Gregarin), and were also well on their way to putting a man on the moon. The Russians, who we had previously written-off as incapable of beating us in anything, were suddenly kicking American ass in the space race. America has (had?) always prided itself in being number one in everything the country attempted, including wars and anything else we put our minds to, and our own national propaganda had for over a century led us to believe that we Americans could never be beaten. The Russians scared the shit out of us with Sputnik, as well as their first atomic detonation and then hydrogen (super nuke) detonation before Sputnik, and we absolutely had to get our over-confident American asses in gear and win the race to the moon. It probably sounds silly today but 45 years ago it was a very serious endevour. If the Russians had won the space race the American psyche would have sunken to tragically low levels and coupled with the Vietnam and Watergate fiascos to come we might have taken decades to recover, if ever. Unfortunately, once we landed on the moon and won the race--and put those damn Russkies in their place--America relaxed and then kind of lost interest in doing anything else. As I said, Vietnam kept getting worse, Watergate and President Nixon's downfall followed, as well as the rest of the 1970s (disco anyone?), so we should be thankful that we got to the moon first. Too bad there isn't any oil up there.