Employees Share Lunar Landing Memories

Employees Share Lunar Landing Memories

By Pila Martinez
Printer-friendly version PDF version

We asked readers to look back 40 years and recall what they were doing on July 20, 1969, the day Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

__________


I was 11 and attending my first weeklong Boy Scout camp in Connecticut. Our entire troop was rousted out of bed and we marched down to the dining hall. There were a lot of people trying to watch the one black-and-white TV. Later that week I received a postcard from my mom that my youngest brother had been born the day after Neil Armstrong's one small step.

Douglas W. Cromey
Assistant Scientific Investigator
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy

_________________________________________________

In 1969 I was 12 years old. John Glenn was my childhood hero, and I devoured books and articles about the space program. As Apollo 11's Eagle Lander approached the Sea of Tranquility, I was glued to our small black-and-white television, listening to Walter Cronkite and the various science reporters relay to America what was happening. Even as a kid, I felt an enormous rush of national pride and an awareness that I was about to be part of an unprecedented moment in human existence. Wanting to somehow preserve the moment, I recorded the broadcast audio onto a 3-inch reel-to-reel tape recorder. I filled up three reels of tape, and kept them for years with my other boyhood treasures. It was a great day to be 12 years old!

Steven C. Holland
Director
Risk Management & Safety 

_________________________________________________

I vividly remember the lunar landing. I was 11 years old and my family was in transition to Tucson. My dad was temporarily stationed at the State Department, in Washington, D.C., prior to joining the faculty at UA. On the night of the landing my parents took the family to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum and watched the live cast on a large screen set up for that purpose. We sat on folding chairs to watch. There were only a handful of people watching it with us. I remember watching with complete awe. A whole new world opened and I was able to witness it beside Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. I am grateful to my parents for making the effort for us to see the landing in such an apropos spot.

Dorothy Briggs
Assistant Director, SALT Center Learning Support Services and The Think Tank at the Student Learning Center

_________________________________________________

I was living with my aunt, uncle and great aunt in San Bernardino, Calif. My great aunt, age 93, had suffered a debilitating stroke. With her head down, and just looking up enough to watch the TV, she saw us land on the moon. She then stated, "Now I've seen everything!" She passed away the next morning.

Carrel Loveless
Accountant
Arizona Crop Improvement Association
School of Plant Sciences

_________________________________________________

On July 20, 1969, I was 9 years old, living in Los Angeles with my family. My grandmother lived across the street and we were at her home. The day was warm and partly cloudy. We all gathered in front of her wooden console colored television set and watched Apollo 11 get closer to the moon. It was quite a moment, as we were all astonished and amazed. I glanced at my grandmother as she watched intently with her teary eyes, as there was a moment of silence. It was as if a miracle had just happened. I thought of President John F. Kennedy, who had passed in 1963, and his words that the nation's commitment should achieve the goal of landing a man on the moon before the next decade – and, it will not be one man going to the moon, it will be an entire nation. Kennedy would have been proud of this American accomplishment. As a young girl, I knew something wonderful had just happened. We watched the footage as they placed the American flag on this fresh ground, and our flag waved proudly. The vision of Neil Armstrong with little gravity was a somewhat abstract notion for me to comprehend at that age, but I understood that this was indeed an event that would never be forgotten. Glad to have lived this moment in history.

Susan Nares
The University of Arizona Libraries
Undergraduate Services Team

 

UA@Work is produced by University Communications

Marshall Building, Suite 100. 845 N. Park Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719 (or) 
P.O. Box 210158B, Tucson, AZ 85721

T 520.621.1877  F 520.626.4121

Feedback University Privacy Statement 

2024 © The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona