Moon Landing Memories

During the summer of 1969 I was hired by Bendix Launch Support Division at KSC as an Associate Engineer-Trainee. I worked with the Pad Section. (My dad, Frank Nocera, worked in admin in the PSCL (Cleaning Lab). My job at KSC provided memorable training classes in fighting rocket fuel fires and in the methods of making emergency egress from the launch pad. I will always remember taking the slide with its curves all the way down to the blast proof room located 40 feet below the launch pad. Early on the morning of July 16th, 1969, my boss assigned me the duty of being the driver for the launch pad damage assessment crew. That meant being one of the first to go out to the charred up pad to note observations for the initial damage assessment. The senior engineers were assigned to be in the LCC (Launch Control Center) working the panels controlling operation of the water deluge system - which was designed to help reduce heat damage from the launch. My supervisor suggested I use my all points pass to view the launch from the VIP viewing section. I saw many famous people there in the bleachers. Charles Lindbergh a hero of mine, was there. Then I noticed two guys walking towards me with Senator Barry Goldwater. I approached the Senator and introduced myself, and he introduced his son, Barry Jr. and his official NASA escort, Gene Cernan. The senator's son was carrying an aluminum briefcase with Goldwater's camera gear. He wanted to photograph the launch from a closer vantage point. So the four of us began walking toward the forward most perimeter fence a quarter of a mile or so closer to the pad. I recall how a few seconds before we saw any flames, hundreds of birds suddenly took flight...they sensed something...and were flying furiously to get away from it. Then we saw the first sparks and an instant later the full firing of the Saturn V's engines. Then the impact of the millions of individual explosions pounded our bodies. The ground shook and ever so slowly the mighty rocket began to rise from the pad. The vibrations from the launch were so intense, I doubt if many of Senator Goldwater's photos turned out. Afterwards, I asked for the Senator and Astronaut Gene Cernan to autograph day of launch post cards my dad had given me. I wish I had known at the time that Cernan would be the last man to walk on the moon. I wonder how Barry Jr. remembers this historic day? Those who work, or who have worked at KSC in the past, might want to check out http://www.InsideKSC.com

I was a 7 year old boy at my fathers bar up in a little backwoods area of wisconsin. My dad had brought out our big 12 inch black and white TV for the event for all the custumers and friends that were with us to see the moonlanding. It was great watching all what was going on. Eatting bowls of popcorn my mom kept making for everyone. But in truth while I did love to see it all what I was most happy about was a year before the landing my dad said to me that the day he would raise my alounce is the day men walk on the moon. Well thanks to NASA I did get that raise, my dad was a man of his word.

I remember the dark nights watching Sputnik blink overhead, and then the long journey to the Mercury 7, and all those giants that followed. I remember the entire overcrowed grade school quietly sitting in the auditorium watching Alan Shepard's entire first flight. I remember the high school memorial for Astronauts Ed White, Roger Chaffee, & our Hoosier Hero Gus Grissom. When the big day at long last arrived, I was a brand new member of the Navy's OLF Coupeville Crash Crew. Being close-by, as the Navy's Junior Birdmen honed their landing skills on our runway before deploying tho the Great Grey Birdfarm far, far away. Fleet Carrier Landing Practice seemed rather inconciquencial that day as we all huddled around our old B&W TV in our old WWII control tower. We were surprised at the live TV pictures from THE moon... Something we had not expected. We hated that old TV until we learned later that it was in grainy black & white for everybody in the real world too! As Neil stepped of the LEM for that "one small step", everyone was hOO-RAh-ing & just generally going nuts, I remember saying a small quiet prayer for Gus, and Ed, and Roger too... They all made that "Giant Leap For Mankind", together.

the eagle has landed

While the the whole world was looking up to the heavens that day, I, along with thousands of other submarine sailors were hundrends of feet below the surface on patrol. I was serving aboard the submarine, USS Robert E. Lee SSBN 601, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. We got up periodic update, via radio traffic, as to the launch, orbit, landing, and return of the astronauts to Earth. I can only imagine how excited and proud the "up top" people were. I have seen the pictures and viewed the video, but it would have been great to have witnessed this historial event first hand, instead of after the fact.

I was on assignment for CBS News . They wanted stories of what peaple were doing while the men walked on the moon. ..My assignment was Mel Fisher underwater searhing for treasure off the coast of Ft. Pierce. Remember it well because it was close in and the surf kept me bobbing up and down The divers piled some rocks on me so I would be steady. Saw the landing on TV that night.

My Aunt Janice Morgan was in Hawaii going to summer school at CCH (BYUH now) and remember how exciting it was to watch the moon landing and walk. She told me, "It was exciting for those of us in Hawaii at that time to have the opportunity to go to Honolulu to see the Apollo 11 space capsule on the USS Hornet and then see the astronauts being brought off the ship in a trailer. Being the first trip to the moon they didn't know what kind of bugs they would bring back with them so they put them in isolation for a few days. I have attached two pictures - one of the capsule and the other of the astronauts waving through a window of their trailer. We thought we were pretty cool to be that close to them!"

I have few and fuzzy memories as I was born in 1964. I didn't see Kennedy's speach...but have many times. Didn't understand Castro...but do now. Never saw the shoe being slammed...but understand how it shook folks. Thanks to 11 and Mercury, Gemini and Chuck...who almost made it! My Dad was ill and woke me to see images of history. He never saw 1970. He did, however, instill an interest in the heavens that will live as long as I do.

Hey, I recognize Guenter Wendt, veteran launch pad boss, there with John Glenn, in one of your changing banner photos. As a NASA Spacecraft Photographer, back then, I remember Guenter Wendt, usually working, directing, procedures going on around the command module.

Working outside of the USA I was not able to watch the launch of Apollo 11 on TV or at Kennedy Space Center, so I was fortunate to do the next best thing, that of being part of the tracking team at the Grand Bahama Island (GBI) USAF Eastern Test Range tracking station. I was 34 years old then, being employed with the Radio Corporation of America (a sub-contractor to Pan American Airways) as a chief electronics technician at the telemetry facility. (This is not to be confused with the other tracking station on the island operated by NASA). In May 1961 while i was working at the Antigua British West Indies USAF Tracking station, I clearly remember my manager calling the troops out of the tracking facility to his quonset hut office to listen to President Kennedy make his famous speech about setting the goal of our astronauts making a moonlanding before the decade was out. Now 8 years later it was actually going to happen. Our main tracking function at GBI was the launch phase, however we also tracked other parts of the Apollo 11 flight as backup. Besides being employed in the missile & space tracking field, I was also a space cover collector, and was the servicer of the many covers that collectors sent to the USAF tracking station at GBI for servicing which meant adding postage, a cachet, my signature and getting the covers postmarked and on their way to collectors all over the world. I also prepared covers that collectors mailed to the station for the Apollo 11 mission: If you are a tracking station cover collector you probably have the Apollo 11 launch cover in your collection. see my webpage: http://spacecovers.com/albums/album_pg_ap11_etr_gbi02.htm There you can see the other two GBI tracking station covers I also prepared for the Apollo 11 flight, which has additional details about the cachets applied and transporting the covers to the postoffice, and a little bit more about my background. Television coverage at Grand Bahama Island was very poor, there were more fadeouts and snow that it was impossible to watch anything from beginning to the end. The closest TV station was West Palm Beach Florida. We were not authorized to use the tracking station antennas for personal use however the base commander and base operations manager looked the other way so that the telemetry chief co-ordinator could jury rig the system. He fed an interference free live Apollo 11 signal that originated in Florida to the television set in the Club Rendezvous TV room, where we could all watch the moonlanding as if we were in the US. What a happy bunch of guys who partisipated in the Apollo 11 flight was now able to watch in awe and much cheering of the actual moonlanding. A day that I will not soon forget.

I’m glad there’s so much historic film footage so widely available. I missed the big show the first time around back in ‘69. As anyone who was in or near Bien Hoa, Republic of Vietnam back on July 20 1969 might recall, our base was hit by TWENTY-NINE NVA 122mm rockets that day. It was certainly the heaviest single day rocket barrage I experienced during my year tour. Needless to say, with all the fireworks commanding our attention, we didn’t really get to relish in the euphoria the rest of the civilized world enjoyed watching Armstrong, et. al., making history. Better late than never.

I was in Kiev, The Soviet Union, in a hotel bar. I was huddled around a table full of Canadians . We were listening to Voice of America radio. As far as I'm concerned - the stars and stripes never shined brighter. We ran out shouting in the street. The people looked at us real funny because it didn't make the paper in Russia till 3 days later.

I was in the Log Cabin Bar and Lounge in Hungry Horse, Montana. As a college forestry student working for the US Forest Service, we had no TV in our bunkhouse. Went to the bar to see the moon walk on their TV. Long way from home for all!!! Very memorable.

I was 6 years old, we lived in Kansas City and were at the Star Light Theatre, the play was Peter Pan. My Dad took me and my older sister out to the car when they landed and turned on a small black and white TV to watch. Ho told us to remember this moment because it was certainly the most important moment in our history. he was right, I never forgot When we returned to the play, I noticed many people had on their ear plugs on and were listening on transistor radios, I knew what they were listening to! Elaine.

I witnessed the Apollo 11 moon landing in an Abort Guidance System control room at TRW Headquarters in California. It was a new assignment for me, so I did not take an active part; fortunately, none of us in that room had to intervene because the main Command Module computer did not fail, so the Abort Guidance Computer that TRW had designed for NASA was not needed. For subsequent Apollo missions, NASA used a commercial hand-held programmable calculator as the backup, so my work on the TRW Abort Guidance system came to a quick close. In the year before the Apollo 11 landing, I had worked on the Lunar Landing navigation and guidance systems, including simulations of the moon landing to check out the system software under stressful conditions. My most interesting assignment was creating a Monte Carlo simulation of the Landing Point Designator, the system that the Lunar Module Commander used during final decent to “point” the Lunar Module to a safe landing site. Back in Clear Lake City, Texas, where my office was located, I attended the night-long splash-down parties that ended the Apollo 11 euphoria; layoffs started the next day, and within a couple of years the TRW offices at Clear Lake were no more. I escaped the layoffs, but soon left TRW, knowing that the challenging work on Apollo was done. I did not witness an Apollo launch while working on Apollo, but my next job took me to Port Canaveral for Navy tests, where, from a vantage point on Cocoa Beach Pier, I saw the beautiful night launch of Apollo 17. My engineering career lasted 28 years beyond Apollo 11, but no employment that followed ever matched the excitement and challenge of Apollo 11.

I don't remember to moon landing but then there was a great reason. I was born 15 minutes before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. Congrats and happy anniversary to the Apollo 11 crew.

I was 16 years old , my Dad was with the Space Program, so I knew how important this launch was to this country. I watched the launch on a surfboard, south Cocoa Beach. I was thinking , maybe one day I could tell my grandkids about Apollo 11. The waves were great that day too.

I was visiting a friend, Tom Flood, in New York. On July 20, 1969, we planned to go deep sea fishing from Sheepshead Bay. It was an early chilly morning. I was from the midwest and Brooklyn was new to me. I was on a boat with working 'joes' who spoke a language I strained to understand. An hour out from shore the captain announced that the seas were too rough to proceed and we had to head back to shore. After the moans and groans the occupants of the swaying boat seemed to collectively agree that their packed lunches and drinks should be consumed on board. So out broke the sandwiches and beers at an hour that was still quite early. This amused me and of course I joined the crowd. When we landed we hit a bar where I recall looking up at a televison screen with bleery eyes and observing man's first landing on the moon's surface. There were cheers and the occasion presented the opportunity for more celebrating. My memory still rings surreal. submitted by Jim Carlson.

i remember when i was only 8 years old and i was at camp gerber in muskegon, mi, usa and we watched man land on the moon on a small tv it had to be less than 15 inches in black and white.

We moved to Brevard County in 1959. Dad worked for Burroughs, contracted for missile tracking. As we were racing the Russians to the moon, the shots were secret. Even as a kid, I could tell when a 'secret launch' was scheduled, because Dad (and the neighborhood dads) suddenly had to work second or third shift. I was confused that something so secretive could be easily predicted by the absence of cars in the driveways at nighttime.

I was 18 months old when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Having been fascinated by space ever since, I made a 1 minute film exactly 10 years ago to celebrate the anniversary. It combines the Apollo 11 voyage to the Moon and the creation of the Earth in just eleven shots - made on 16mm film, with home made models and zero budget you can view the short movie at http://www.goodluckmrgorsky.com

I was less than 3 months old but my mother, who worked with my father at KSC until delivering twins in April, took my sister and I outside to watch from our driveway in Cape Canaveral. My dad was at KSC in the Firing Room as part of the Launch Operations team. I do remember the Skylab launch and Apollo 17 launches which I watched live. Great memories of a magical time in our country's exploration history.

I grew up in Central Florida amid the space projects. It was always exciting to watch the skies for the familiar sites. When the moon launch went I watched from the roof of the building at Patrick Air Force Base where I worked. When the moon walk happened my husband of 22 days was at work at the Cape and spent the entire time the pictures from the moon were on TV coaching me as to how to take pictures from the TV with no glare so we would have them forever! In 2007 our younger daughter watched her husband of 22 days leave on his second deployment to Iraq. My 22nd day was by far the better - let's hope her children don't have to be involved with saving the world at the risk of our young people. Thank you for a chance to share some memories.

I remember this so clearly, as if it were yesterday. I was pregnant with my first child, Keith, and I was talking to my Mother as she folded clothes. We we so excited we were screaming and hollering and all of a sudden my baby kicked me for the first time. I will never, never forget that day. It was monumental to the entire WORLD to see our astronauts on the moon.

In April 1972, I was very fortunate to see the launch of Apollo 16. I took time off from high school and flew to stay with my grandparents in Miami. From there my friend and I took a bus to NASA the day before the launch. It was my first time ever to reach NASA property, which was like holy ground to me. I'd been interested in space for many years already, since the age of eight. The bus went straight to the NASA Visitors Center after the long ride from Miami. We toured the buildings there and then were able to be on the last public bus tour to the pad on the evening before the launch. The bus took an extended tour through the Mercury launch sites and other sites, before heading North for the Apollo pad. I was seated on the left side of the bus as we drove North along the coast, and I was so excited as the Saturn grew larger and larger in view outside my window. The bus neared the pad, pulled to a stop and we were allowed out just east of the pad to look with binoculars and take pictures of the spectacular scene. The white rocket sat majestically on the giant Launch Pad 39A. It was a beautiful clear evening. We were allowed to mill about for 30 minutes at least. The sun was setting behind the pad as our bus pulled away northward again along the coast and around the pad. I snapped some great photos of the vehicle and then the tower as they both eclipsed the setting sun. The bus stopped next at the VAB and we were let inside for a look. Through the north door, I could see how Saturn rockets were assembled in the majestic cathedral of a building. However, from the VAB looking east, the view of the searchlight-illuminated Saturn V on Pad 39A with the twilight sky and ocean beyond was now tremendous. Tomorrow it would be leaving for the Moon. This was a sight to remember forever. Then the bus took us back to the visitor center, which was now beginning to close with announcements coming over the loudspeaker to that effect. However, my friend and I were without transportation. We had no choice but to begin walking down the causeway, a long straight highway heading West towards Titusville. We expected a very long hike of about ten miles to go before we reached the gate at the other side of the Indian River. This problem soon turned into a beautiful blessing in the form of a spectacular view. The sun had sunk ahead of us, and now the crescent earth-lit moon was also setting directly in front of us like a jewel in the constellation of Orion, low over the horizon. It was a most beautiful sunset/moon-set. To our right we could also see the searchlights from Pad 39A illuminating the entire northern sky. I felt awed to be so near the ship which tomorrow would be heading to that Moon. I could imagine those steady searchlights somehow striving to touch the Moon ahead of us as if all of humanity itself were reaching for the stars. As we walked I kept looking back and forth from the Moon to the searchlights in the beautiful blue twilight. I knew it was a vista I would never forget, and I haven't. It was a unique moment in time, and I was one of only a handful of people there to see it. Eventually security picked us up as we walked along the NASA Causeway and escorted us off the base. We were a little nervous about being picked up by security, but the officer was very nice about it. At one point he stopped the car and phoned in to report us. From there we spent the night outdoors on the grass by a gas station next to the NASA gate, for we had no idea where we were and there were no other buildings in sight. We rested now and then throughout the night, but didn't sleep. We listened to occasional news on the radio and waited anxiously for day to come. At one point I took a walk so that I could see the Saturn V again, illuminated still by huge searchlights. The next morning we walked about 6 miles north to Titusville, where we would have the closest view and a good breakfast. There we bought a few space souvenirs from vendors set up everywhere along the road and walked among the crowd. Cars were parked everywhere. Helicopters flew back and forth along the wide river. The countdown went smoothly hour-by-hour as we listened via radios and observed with our binoculars. I set up my tape recorder on the hood of someone's car where a radio was picking up a space commentator. We chose a launch viewing spot right up against the shore of the Indian River, with the Saturn V east from us. The countdown continued to go very smoothly and finally around noon we had a good liftoff. The bright orange flames of the Saturn V were beautiful. My biggest impression was that although we were miles away, suddenly it seemed to be right there in front of us! As the rocket climbed the flames grew taller and taller, blinding us. The 360-foot tall rocket was riding atop a 1000-ft flame. A radio announcer was heard during the launch calling out significant events. He got so excited, and sounded like a sportscaster rather than a calm NASA commentator. The Saturn rose majestically and left a short cloud contrail after it reached a certain height. The noise was huge and was punctuated by loud cracks from the air that were somehow "louder" than noise itself. After a few minutes of this, I could easily see first stage separation and followed the vehicle until it disappeared from sight. On board were John Young, Ken Mattingly and Charlie Duke. As the vehicle faded into the East, I was thankful that I got to see part of the golden age of space travel.

Before you can launch the Saturn V we had to design it. In 1960 I was in an engineering group in a Douglas Santa Monica building designing the upper stage Saturn S-IV and S-IVB rockets. We supported the design of the Saturn S-IB also. If he had this today, we could save vast funds in manned exploration. WE worked on advanced Saturn rocket designs, but they never were funded.

I remember Walter Cronkite taking off his glasses and starting to cry. I don't remember for sure what he said but I do remember him starting to cry. i was young then but it was still very emotional.

To the moon in '92 During Apollo I was an RCA engineeerng supervisor in (then) Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. My group and I were responsible to NASA for receipt and checkout of the television camera used on the lunar rover on the moon's surface. Before Apollo 16 I got a call from a NASA scientist asking if he could take pictures of the mirror on top of the camera which was a solar reflector to cool the unit. He explained that they planned to return to the same site in 1992 and he wanted a way to document the effects of the space debris which was expected to hit the camera over tthe twenty years. Our NASA engineer agreed and we were allowed to provide the camera for the picture taking. That was 1972. Now it is 2009 and NASA is saying possibly the moon landing will not occur until 2028!! J.P. Anderson 945 Samar Road Cocoa Beach FL 32931 321-783-7916

In the late 60s I worked for KSC security (Wackenhut) manning various restricted locations as well as the main gates. Not the best paying of jobs but I was fresh out of the Air Force, and I loved the oppertunity to meet and greet the real rocket scientests, and even some of the Astronauts. I was on duty the night of the Apollo fire, a very long and sad night. By the time of the Moon landing I was down range w/ Pan-Am on the very small island of Grand Turk. The Telemerty guys had an unoffical Open House so we all got to sit inside and watch & listen to the direct feed, real time. Later there was one heck of a party at the club.

I was a MSGT USAF Instructor assigned to Field Training Detatchment (FTD) 326 at Patrick AFB to train the Flight and Maintenance Crews of the Apollo Range Instrumented Aircraft (ARIA)> I taught the Timing & Recording Systems.

my daughter Kathleen's birthday is july 20, and she was 12 years old the day of the moonlanding, my husband, who was an avid fan of the space program, had the whole family sit in front of the tv and watch it. My husband has since died, but all my 5 children continue keep up with all the happenings of the space program, and it's easy for all of us to remember that moonlanding when we remember kathleen's birthday. it was very special that my husband was able to see John Glenn go back up on the Discovery,STS-95. How exciting! we still try to watch all the shuttles take off. thank you for letting me share this memory.

I was working for McDonnell-Douglas Corp. in the Industrial Security Office at CCAFS during the Apollo program. McDonnell-Douglas manufactured and processed the 3rd stage for the Saturn V Rocket. I was fortunate enough to be selected, out of a team of 1600 MDAC employees, to represent them at the first public appearance of the Apollo 11 astronauts after they were released from their quarantine following their landing. The dinner function was held in August 1969 at the Rice Hotel in Houston and I was able to personally meet each of the astronauts and their wifes at the dinner. It is definitely something I will never forget.

For Apollo 11 I worked on testing the spacecraft in the KSC altitude chambers. My parents came from Texas to watch the launch and my neighbor got us on the Observation Island tracking ship in the Port to view the launch. On Moon landing day we watched the landing on TV, then went to dinner at Bernard's Surf and came back home to watch the first steps on the Moon. It was a super exciting time.

I remember as a 9 year old, 3 friends and I listening to the mission highlights on shortwave radio huddlled around it not even realising that the moment we shared in that room was being shared all around the world. We all had our ideas of what the surface would be like and discussing the likelyhood of not coming back. Later I would find myself living in the backyard of the space program, we tuely live on a small world floating in an immense open sky.

I was in Long Beach Memorial Hospital giving birth to our second son, Scott...He was born on the 18th and on the 20th when Neal Armstrong stepped on to the moon surface, the nurses gathered around my bed while I held my son and we all watched the momentous event. Fortunately, we are always reminded of the Moon Landing and how old he is with all the media coverage.

I was 18 years old and working in a factory in Cincinnati over the summer. When I came to work the next day very excited about the Moon Landing I was laughed at as a naive teenager. The majority of the workers believed that the moon landing was produced in Hollywood. I was flabbergasted. The moon landing to me was a major event that showed promise for America and the world, during a dark time in our history. Vietnam was heating up and I knew alot of young men who served in our armed services. It made me proud of our country and the good it was capable of doing. Vicki Benoit Micco, Florida

MY DAD SENT ME THIS REMEMBRANCE: "I remember very well the night Apollo 11 landed and Armstrong set foot on the moon. We were living in Murphysboro, Ill., at the time. It was late in the evening and all I could see was blurring images of history in the making on an old portable blue and white Zenith TV. It was quite a thrill."

At the time of the actual landing on the moon, I was on my way across country from Cape Canaveral, Fla. I was a NASA Spacecraft Photographer, and had been assigned, among other things, to take photographs of switch positions, etc., inside the Apollo 11 command module, during the countdown, just prior to the entry of the three astronauts. Now I am history. 8< )

The day of launch of Apolo 11 on July 16, 1969, I was a teenager back then who's home base was Miami, FL. At the time of this launch, I was living half way around the world with my family in Dacca, East Pakistan. July 16th was also my father's birthday. The local Pakistani's were just as excited about this launch to the moon as we Americans were. There was a place within the city where everyone could go in and watch and learn what was happening as it was happening. The place had a science fair atomsphere, if you will, about it. It was really educational. We were proud to be an American and from Florida too! On the evening of the landing on the moon, on July 20th, we thought it was funny when we heard the local Pakistani's believed they could see our astronaunts walking on the moon. If memory serves me, it was a full moon too. Also, July 20th was my parents wedding aniversary too. I have wonderful memories of this particular launch. Happy birthday dad. Happy anniversary, mom and dad.

I was 6 years old. My parents were having a hugh party to watch and celebrate the event. I can remember my mother carving "craters" out of a ball of ice to look like a moon in the punch bowl. I also remember sitting on my mother's lap and doing my best to stay awake and watch the event on a very small black and white TV. I was so excited about it that afterwards my parents gave me 2 silver charms for my charm bracelet - 1 of an astronaut and 1 of the LEM on one side and Neil's "one small step..." saying on the other.

I was watching on TV in the living room of our house by myself. I was only 9 years old but I knew something special was happening. My sister was with friends my Mom was hanging laundry in the backyard and my Father was at work.

On July 20, I was 14 years old. We were at a family reunion at Miller's Picnic grove in Maryland. Someone brought a TV so we could watch the landing.

I was camping in Spain with my father. I saw the moon walk by watching a tv in a caravan in an adjacent field through my telescope. Stayed up all night watching with Voice of America on the radio for comentary. I've won many bets about watching the first moon walk through my telescope!

I was at camp on July 20th 1969.We were in a boat on the Delaware river,10min before landing on the moon we pulled over to the shore so we could hear the landing.A day i.ll never forget,very proud moment for all American,s.

it was my third birthday. i don't remember a thing! but i have always enjoyed sharing my birthday with the day we first landed on the moon!

I had been stationed in Istanbul, Turkey with the U.S. Air Force for fifteen months when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. While living in an apartment with another NCO, we were invited by a Turkish neighbor to listen to the landing on BBC radio. We had no Armed Forces radio or television and what little first-hand news of what was going on "back in the world" was from newly arrived personnel. The Turkish people we worked with and many we encountered were truly impressed with and complimentary of America. It was a very exciting time and a very proud time for us. Three months later when I returned to the U.S. I saw the films of the landing and the first steps on the surface of the moon. I was amazed again and glad to see the vision and challenge of President Kennedy had been accomplished.

During the Apollo Program I was a Pad Leader on the Lunar Module for Grumman Aerospace. Because of our busy schedule to put a man on the moon I had not had a vacation for two years. I remember a conversation that I had with Neil Armstrong on the stack a few before launch. I told Neil that I wished that we could get him on the way to the moon so I could go on vacation. And he told me I could go on vacation to the moon with him and Buzz. I told him to go on to the moon and I would go to Colorado. He just laughed. To hold a brief conversation with Neil was rare as he was usually all business and a man of few words. But a brave American hero! There will never be another Apollo Program or another American goal that involved so many proud American workers. And I was blessed to be a big part of it. Cal Moser A Proud American

Our youngest son was born the day Man landed on the moon! What a wonderful day for NASA & our family! Sadly he died in 1991. Now he can 'see' space from Heaven!

I remember being at work during the launch. I worked for Federal Electric corporation at the Central Instrumentation Facility on Kennedy Space Center, FL. We actually ran strip chart recorder traces of the heartbeat and respiration transmitted from the astronauts as part of our telemetry systems job. My heart rate was pretty high during launch too! We heard the roar of the engines even inside of the CIF. Of course, we had very good camera shots on large video screens. I was at home during the landing on the moon, what a great feeling.

I was standing in the Miracle City Mall parking lot with my wife(ex) and my parents (deceased). I owned the Orange Julius in the Mall and July 16th was our busiest day ever, with the crowd 6 deep all day. What I remember about the launch was the excitement of the crowd, the countdown with everyone joining in the final T-10 to T-0. Then we saw the smoke and fire erupt, then this huge Saturn 5 began to move, with the nose moving through the melee of smoke and fire and finally breaking loose and in full view as it picked up speed and went off into space. It was breathtaking and the crowd broke out in full applause, some crying, everyone emotional as we watched Apollo 11 disappear into the heavens. And then, back to the Orange Julius where we worked for hours, serving all the tourists who witnessed history.

Watching the launch, landing on the moon, first steps, first words was very exciting for my entire family even though it was thru TV in the midwest and not from sunny Florida. A few years after that, I was highly surprised when a co-worker said she did not believe we had ever landed on the moon. She thought - and could not be persuaded otherwise - that NASA had filmed the entire history-making event in some secret place. That the astronauts did not even leave earth and it was all a hoax. She thought they perpetrated it to ensure the USA a spot in history and to secure more $$ on a wasteful program.

Soon after my High School graduation in 1968, I went to work for TWA at Kennedy Space Center in the VAB. During my employ with TWA, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to whitness 6 Apollo launches up close and personal. Standing outside the VAB, we watched in awe as the mighty Saturn 5 rumbled into the Florida sky with a dynamic sound that would literally rattle the change in our pockets. Those launches at such close proximity seemed "new" each and every time they were experienced. I'm so proud that I can now relate to my Grandchildren such an exciting event in our history in a very personal way.

I saw the Apollo 11 launch frm the Miracle City Mall parking lot and will be back in the exact same spot tomorrow morning at 9:32 just for the memory and to say I was there. Please join me, I will be standing in the parking lot, next to the JC Penney store on the north side.

We moved to Indialantic Thanksgiving of 1968, just a few weeks shy of the historic Apollo 8 lunar orbital mission. That morning, my dad woke us all up at the crack of dawn to let us know we were headed to the Fifth Ave. boardwalk on the beach to watch it. They kept this news from me because they knew I wouldn't sleep the night before. It was an amazing experience seeing that little orange spark and that shimmering white contrail spiral in the rising Florida sun. Being a 7-year-old kid, my imagination was boiling over. I could just picture myself in that command module as it headed to the moon. Seeing those TV images of the cresent earth and then those ancient craters passing below the spacecraft had me glued to the TV. The subsequent weeks were exciting. I can remember sitting in class at Indialantic Elementary during a math lesson and being more focused on the upcoming lunar landings than I was on addition and subtraction. As summer approached and the dress rehearsals of Apollo 9 and 10 were in the books, there was immense excitiement along A-1-A and Brevard County as the launch of Apollo 11 approached. Once again, we were at the beach that July morning. It seemed the whole county stopped. Again, we watched that little orange flame rise above the Cape and that silvery-white vaopr trail follow. We watched the speck until we could see the stages separate. My dad remarked that he knew how the Portugeuse felt watching Columbus depart for the New World. When the lunar module made its decent, I can recall, now being an 8-year-old, that this was a profound event. I remember my folks saving the "Today" paper, which we still have 40 years later. Even at 8, I had a sense of the significance of this even because, after all, man would be walking on another world. I remember watching Walter Cronkite as the lander set down in Tranquility Base and seeing the anchorman exhale in fascinated relief. To me, it was frustrating because the dust from the descent stage engine obscured the view of the lunar surface as the spacecracte landed. I saw the simulated model lander that the networks were showing, with the caption "APOLLO 11 ON THE MOON." Of course, they announced the astronauts were going to get out sooner and I made a deal with my parents. I'd go to bed early and they'd wake me up when it was time. I remember sitting in my dad's chair, with him, as the hatch opened and Neil Armstrong made the historic trek down the ladder to the dusty surface and uttered those famous words. Even the ghost-like images on TV didn't disappoint. We were all mesmerized. To me, the mission didn't last long enough. It was a thrilling time to be sure, as it was throughout the lunar heydays of the Space Coast. We moved from Florida to Tennessee in 1974, but we were fortunate enough to witness the launches of all the Apollo missions, including the spectacular night launch of Apollo 17 (we couldn't see Apollo 9 from the parking lot at Indialantic Elementary, because it was gray and overcast that day and of course, we couldn't see Apollo 12 because it launched in that thunrderstorm). Those were magical times that not only captured the imagination of people on the Space Coast, but across the globe. One of my colleagues, the late Wilson Hall, who used to work for NBC news and the Today Show, was in the Middle East at the time and remarked to me that even people who didn't particularly fancy us offered congratulations. Those wonderful memories of those exciting times will forever be etched in my memory.

I was 23 years old and living in Maryland at that time, and my oldest daughter had turned just turned 1. What an exciting and proud time this was for our country! It was hard to imagine that the accomplishments of these brave men and our space program would mark the way for all future space travel, and they had actually landed on the moon and touched for the first time the soil of moon. I can now share this time with my children and grandchildren.

I was watching the man walk on the moon with my family on TV as my father Richard Andry was filming it on 8mm. My father came to Florida in 1957 and worked on the Apollo program as well as the shuttle program from which he retired. I was born in Rockledge at Wuesthoff Hospital in 1958 and have been a life long resident with many fond memories of the rocket launches that shook our windows. This was a wonderful place to grow up.

Landing was late afternoon in the midwest, and the walk was very early in the morning.

On the evening of the launch we went to Nort's Vanguard and then shot pool at George's Steakhouse until too late.

Prior to the Apollo 11 flight, I was in charge of the Activation of the spacecraft ground systems in the KSC Industrial Area. I remember well the anticipation during the Apollo and LM spacecraft checkout in the MSOB and the long hours spent away from wives and family. The dedication and commitment during the entire checkout and launch processing was a picture of teamwork and responsibility. I am humbled that I was allowed to be even a small part of this historic event.

I was on the launch team for Apollo 11, manning a console in the center of the fourth row in the Firing Room as the Technical Assistant to Dr. Hans Gruene, the Director of Launch Vehicle Operations. My call sign was CLDD, and my job was to track the major activities on the Saturn V rocket and its ground support equipment during the countdown using the 61 video cameras at the launch pad. My partner on the adjoining console was Bob Young, and together we did our best to stay up with everything happening, using both the NASA cameras and the news feeds being provided from the network television folks covering the launch. (There was no CNN or Fox then folks, just broadcast TV!). What we chose was displayed on four huge display screens that were mounted across the top of the entire firing room, so everyone viewed what we put up there. I remember watching intently and listening to about four conversations at the same time, when all at once one of the screens using a network feed went to a commercial showing a farm tractor plowing a field. Before I could have Bob switch the feed to another camera, a second feed using another TV station showed the same picture -- and there we were, two engineers working the first launch to the moon with giant pictures of two farm tractors plowing a field having nothing to do with our launch activity... Wow. That countdown and launch was the stuff of science fiction, except it was real. No one on the Apollo 11 launch team will ever forget what it felt like to be a part of man’s greatest adventure in the 20th century -- helping humans leave the earth and venture forth to the surface of the moon. As one of the youngest engineers on that launch team, surrounded by people more skilled and experienced than I would ever be, I remember thinking how lucky we all were to be a part of such a great achievement. Now, forty years later, we find ourselves still gathering at monthly events and special meetings to look back at those days and savor the ways in which each of us served a role in making Apollo 11 -- and all the Apollo flights -- a special time in the history of the world. Congratulations NASA; 40 years and counting... Back to the moon! Al Koller

I remember my brother and I standing outside in the dark looking up at the moon and wondering if the astronauts were upside up or upside down and if they would fall off. What can I say... we were young.

my dad worked on the first part of the rocket,he would bring the plans home (3'X4') 6"thick and work saturdays on them,i also remember that part of the rocket going up the beach to the cape, it was huge,it was on a barge,, i still have a picture in frame that my dad brought home of the apollo rocket,the day the moon rocket went up (apollo 11) we were standing in are front yard in melbourne watching the rocket go up the rocket looked like a small pin,,the flame comeing out of it was 8" long it was hugh,,something i will very forget

I was 10 years old and My family lived in Maryland at this time. I remember sitting up till all hours of the morning on July 20, 1969, to watch Neil and Buzz walk out on the moon, I was amazed. Three years later my Father who was in the Air Force at the time was transfered to Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach and we settled in Merritt Island. The moon program was so facinating to me that it eventually led me to work at KSC where I am currently employed. I'm very excited to see that we are going back to the moon. I have always felt that we should never have stopped after Apollo 17.

I am a life long resident of Brevard and grew up with the space program. The sixties were tubulent times with Vietnam War protest raging across the country. However, the space coast seemed isolated from all that because we were going to the MOON ! My most vivid memory was my mother woke my older brother and I so we could see Neil Armstrong step on to the Moon, she obviously saw the historical significance and I am glad she did. It was an exciting time and I will never forget it.

I remember standing on the beach, watching the Saturn V launches. They were the brightest thing we'd ever seen. For one launch, my Dad brought a part of the newspaper to the beach to see if he could read it by the light of the rocket, and sure enough, you could!

I was 17, a recent graduate of Titusville High, and the night before the launch, I joined my boyfriend's family on the Indian River, camping out along with thousands of other folks. Call it a spacetown Woodstock. Nobody slept. During the launch, I noticed that the Ohio folks next to us, perched inside their camper, were watching the event through binoculars and on a small TV, while also snapping photos, running video, and recording the boom on a tape deck. I'm not sure they witnessed the event directly, but they sure offered a sign of the times. As did we beached-out adolescents, in our bell-bottoms and funky sunglasses. That summer, I was on the verge of leaving home for good, and suddenly, I realized that my "uncool" mother, who worked at the Vehicle Assembly Building, had been rightly excited by her job, and I had been too self-absorbed to ask her about it.

Our children were 11, 8, and 7. We woke them so they would not miss this historic event. It was outstanding and I remember having goosebumps because I lived to see what had seemed an impossible accomplishment. What a thrill!

The Apollo11 landed on the moon on my birthday, July 20th. On August 13, the astronauts were in a ticker tape parade on my Mom's birthday. In front of the Drake Hotel, the parade was waiting, astronauts sitting on the back of a convertible, and I approached them wearing my bikini- as they were right on the Lake, and Oak St. Beach. I got close to the car, as well as others, and said hi to the astronauts, thanking them for landing on the moon on my birthday. Later that day, I called the local radio station and D.J. Barney Pip and I chatted on air about the astronauts and my experience. It was one of the most memorable moments in my life! Robin AC Bailey, formerly from Chicago, now from Viera, Fl

AS DESCRIBED TO FLORIDA TODAY BY A RETIRED SPACEWORKER CURRENTLY LIVING IN BREVARD COUNTY APOLLO 11 Launch Schedule I was lead scheduler for North American on the SII second stage of the SATURN V. The AS506 SII vehicle was built in Seal Beach California, shipped on a barge to Mississippi for static firing and then on to KSC. This was during the spring of 1969. As the barge rounded the straits of Florida it encountered a severe storm. The barge had a seagoing crew and a single inspector from North American was on board as an observer. During the storm a loud cracking sound was heard. It was not known if the noise came from the barge, the SII stage or the transporter trailer the stage was on. No damage was discovered at the time. The inspector wrote up a discrepancy report describing the event. After arrival at KSC the stage was brought into the VAB low bay and still no damage was found. The barge also had no apparent damage. A call was made to Seal Beach to the design engineers. After much discussion and since no damage was found, the discrepancy report could not be closed. It was determined that the vehicle would have to be inspected to prove that it was flight ready. Originally I was an electronic technican on the J-2 engines. I was promoted to Planning and Scheduling. I had been the assistant scheduler on the first vehicle, AS501, and lead scheduler on all the rest. During the processing of these vehicles many different inspections had been required. I had made all these schedules and although none had been finished as originally planned, I had copies of the final "as built" schedules after they were completed. With the test conductor with whom Iworked with on the Titan program at Martin Co., and the engineers we planned all the inspections. After I finished the schedules I was asked by our director what this would do to the launch schedule since nothing could be completed until the second stage was ready for stacking. I laid out a plan all the way to launch. On the day NASA had a planning meeting for AS506, APOLLO 11, our test conductor had a doctor's appointment so he asked me to present our SII schedule to NASA. I did, and then NASA asked me what this did to the launch schedule. I had brought the schedule I had made for our director with me but never expected to show it to anyone. I showed it to him and he took it from me and did not return it. A few days later we received the preliminary launch schedule from NASA and it was identical to the one I made, with only one spacecraft test moved from a Monday to a Tuesday. Everything else was identical. The original launch date remained the same and the launch did occur on the original scheduled date July 16, 1969.

I was 13 years old. I remember playing outside with a friend when my parents called me into the bonus room along to join my my grand parents to watch the landing event on TV. Life was much simpler then...

As a young engineer, it was a lifelong dream come true when I started working at KSC as an Apollo spacecraft operations engineer in 1968. We were on a 3 shift/24 hr work schedule, readying 3 command/service modules to fly simultaneousy - 1 in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, one in the VAB and one on the pad - and launching every few months. There was a cameraderie and a common goal that this country has not seen since, and probably won't see again. We showed the world that we were the undisputed leaders in space exploration. And then we stopped.

I was 12 years old when they landed on the moon. I remember being glued to the TV and being so amazed that they could do this. It is truly amazing what has transpired in the space industry in the years after the landing! OH! And do any stamp collectors remember the stamp commemorating the moon landing?

I remember that Apollo 7 lifted off from CCAFS and not KSC as noted in the pictures. The pictures show a Cape side launch.

have all the tools my dad used to build the LM for grumman airospace and have photo's of LM in stages of being built. my dad was a tool and die maker and did work on apollo project and space shuttle also build all the planes they made in the years beathpage NY plant was open.

I remember watching it on TV as I was putting together my Revell Apollo spacecraft model. I kept going outside and looking at the moon and thinking 'Wow There's men up there'.

I was aboard the Hornet when Apollo 11 landed. I have personal photos and a set of commemorative glasses that I forgot I had. We were at Epcot a couple of weeks ago and they have the same set of glasses for another mission. I was only 19 at the time so it really made a big impression. I feel very fortunate to have been a part of such an historical moment in time.

What would Kennedy think of U.S. activity in space today?