One small step

[oseaghdha]

I remember watching them on the Moon from a hospital bed, getting my mashed up leg sorted out.
I was 13.

Stupid motorcycles.

[Bigfoot]

Didn't you know that they faked all of that?

Just joking.

I wasn't even a twinkle in my daddy's eye at that point.

[CatatonicBug]

My parents were 21 at that point... I know THEY remember it, but it's all just a bunch of fuzzy video to me

Still amazes me that all the technology used to do that could fit in a wristwatch today.

[Bob Falter]

I was a little older than your parents. Watched it on a black & white TV with rabbit ears. It was fuzzy then too. Considering the technology, it was a miracle they did it as many times as they did without killing some people.

Bob

[cywelchjr]

I was about 12 at the time, I remember that we had our first console set (with rabbit ears still) and it was still black and white. That was around the same time I used to sneak out at night to watch capt kirk on tv, as my parent wouldn't let me watch it, so I had to watch peeking around the corner of the hall making sure they didn't see me (found out later that they knew I was doing it, but figured if I wanted to watch it that bad they would look the other way).

[rpgoerlich]

I can remember watching it as well on the black and white. While my Grandfather was yelling at all us kids, seems like it was on Sunday night right after Bonanza!

[Ken Talbot]

Ah, yes, I remember watching this on our black and white TV too. I was 15 years old.

What I find real interesting this many years after is how many people can instantly name Neil Armstrong as the first man to set foot on the moon, how many fewer can name the second guy, and how rare it is to find somone who can name the guy who stayed behind in the command module.

I ponder what it must be like for Armstrong to go through the rest of his life comparing everything he does to that day, and dealing with the possibility that he may never do anything more with his life that will even come close to measuring up to that one instant. Buzz Aldrin - as great as his feat was, what must it be like to always be the second guy, the one whose name a lot of people think they know, but they just can't remember. And Michael Collins - how many people can even come up with his name nowdays without google.

Yes, it truly was an amazing time, and I am glad to be able to say "I remember it".

[Lucien Harpress]

I read somewhere that Neil Armstrong absolutely refuses to give out any kind of autographs. The way I understand it, it doesn't have to do with having a huge ego or anything- he just doesn't want the people to turn around and sell it on Ebay ('cause you know that's what half the people would do).

Also, Buzz Aldrin actually took the whole "second man on the moon" thing pretty hard- had quite the problem with alcohol and depression after he got back.

Still, though, I'm still completely amazed with what those few men accomplished. I didn't exist when any of the landings took place, but those guys have nothing but respect from me.

(I'm not an expert on the space program, but my older brother is- that's how I got those first two tidbits of info. So don't shoot me if I'm wrong.)

[Ivan]

I watched that movie "The Right Stuff", does that count?

Oh and I saw Chuck Yeager at an airshow when I was a kid. Apparently he doesn't like youngsters clamped on his leg screaming "you're my hero!"

Well, that and I went to Space Camp in the fifth grade.

Well, damnit if I were alive at the Time I would have watched it with eager anticipation, and cheered adn cried and all that.

Unfortunately, I do remember watching the Challenger disaster, happened two days before my 10th (i think) birthday.

[DJinNH]

Didn't you know that they faked all of that?

Just joking.

I wasn't even a twinkle in my daddy's eye at that point.

I realize you are joking but just thought I'd add...I enjoyed watching the TV show "Mythbusters" the other night when they blew apart myth by myth several of the conspiracy theorists' accusations.

I was born in '64. I remember watching with my sister as the capsules would splash down into the ocean. Cooool!

Don

[trbig]

I heard on Letterman that NASA has lost all of the original video of the moon landing. He made the statement something to the effect of... "What?? It's not like they're a bunch of rocket scientists or anything!"

Tod

[foreda]

Moon Landing

Remember it well at 15. Black and White was all we had and no air conditioning (in Louisiana). Remember watching it on CBS with Walter Chronkite ... " And that's the way it is" !! Ahh the good ole days!!

[Geezer]

What is even dumber is they didn't think it was important and taped over it. It's like taping a game over your wedding video but in this case you're not sleeping with the person that is the most pissed about it.

Geezer

I heard on Letterman that NASA has lost all of the original video of the moon landing. He made the statement something to the effect of... "What?? It's not like they're a bunch of rocket scientists or anything!"

Tod

[cywelchjr]

Unfortunately, I do remember watching the Challenger disaster, happened two days before my 10th (i think) birthday.

That's one of those "remember what you were doing when it happened" moments. I was in class in college waiting to take a test and since there was a TV in the classroom we were watching the launch before starting the test. The test was postponed/cancelled as nobody was in any condition at that point to take the test.

This was at Tacoma Community College in Tacoma Washington. I don't remember the room number, but it was in the computer components class of the computer repair program I was in at the time.

[madmax-im]

never forget it...

I was 17 and living in Tucson with my family...we all sat around the B/W tv and watched it...my Dad had a tear in his eye...it seems like yesterday...what many people seem to forget was the whole decade leading up to 1969...the 3 astronauts that died in the electrical fire in the capsule , plus 3 others that had died as well dont remember their circumstances...plus all the previous missions before Apollo 11. It was an exciting time of my life...