K2Pete Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 This next few days marks the 50th anniversary of the First Lunar Landing. Today, July 16th, is the anniversary of the Launch of this incredible achievement. I remember it very, very well as I was 15 years old with my Revell 1/48 Apollo Lunar Spacecraft kit on the coffee table for 8 days, not missing a beat! I watched Walter Cronkite, Roy Neal and Jules Bergman every time there was a Special Report on this mission. This aerospace achievement, performed by Engineers, Designers, highly qualified Test Pilots mainly by the USA, with some minor contributions by us Canadians is remarkable. Remarkable for the time and the state of technology. Just as 50 years ago, I'll be reliving every moment, watching every thing I can ... still in disbelief that ... 50 years have passed ... oh my goodness! Congratulations, admittedly a little belated, to you in the USA ... job well done y'all! Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 I was a mere 13 in 1969. I remember taking pictures of the TV screen during the moon walk. Boy was I disappointed when I got those pictures back from the photo lab, diagonal bands and half the screen missing. That's when I learned about CRT TV refresh rates vs shutter speed and the parallax in a rangefinder camera's viewfinder. Still in awe over what we accomplished and what now seems to be such archaic computing power. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Cartwright Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 I didn't hear how this went, but it's a cool idea: https://alltogether.swe.org/2019/07/participate-in-a-global-rocket-launch-on-july-16-2019/ Join the Global Rocket Launch! WHO: everyone with access to a model rocket, purchased or homemade WHEN: 9:32 a.m. EDT (US) on July 16, 2019 WHERE: anywhere in the world WHY: to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 I as twelve. I also had my 1:48 LEM landing with the astronauts. Parents woke us kids up when Armstrong was fixin' to step out and our TV took that moment to die. It was amusing to drive through Nassau Bay and see all the TV cameras on the edge of the hotel roof pointed at JSC across NASA 1 boulevard. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, Ken Cartwright said: I didn't hear how this went, but it's a cool idea: Boeing launched 5000 rockets simultaneously at the USSRC in Huntsville. All 5000 were identical and said Boeing on the side. They were all streamer recovery and it looks like a lot of the streamers got tangled on the way down. edit - the video link is blocked, follow this search link for links to the video https://www.google.com/search?&q=huntsville+rocket+launch&oq=huntsville+rocket+launch Edited July 17, 2019 by habu2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 I was 16. I remember getting the 1/32 version of the command and service modules. Covered the command module with shiny aluminum foil. It looked so cool . I think I bought the Lunar lander in the separate version of the kit. I remember trying to figure out how to replicate the gold mylar covered section. Never did figure it out, just ended up painting them gold (Testors 1/4 ounce bottle gloss enamel paints of course). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HistnScale Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 I was 20 and listened to the event on Armed Forces Radio while sitting on a Lima Site wishing I could have been on the moon instead of where I was. Fun memories. Cheers, Dave. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Darren Roberts Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 I was T-minus 5 months. I always said I was born 10 years too late. 😁 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) I was just over 1 year old. I remember it well.😁 Seriously though, what an amazing point in the history of humans. to think there were people alive that actually witnessed the transition from the very first powered flight all the way to the point where man walked on the moon. That is incredible to think about! BTW, this may interest many here if you guys haven't heard about it. Project Egress where they are building a replica CM hatch and assembling it real time at the Smithsonian. I think there is a live stream even. https://www.tested.com/science/space/880604-announcing-project-egress-project-national-air-and-space-museum/ Also of note, there are 3D models available of the files they used to create this that you can download and 3D print if you so choose. From what I've heard and have seen, If you have the resources and wanted to, you could actually create a full-size (or any scale really) fully functioning hatch from these files! Edited July 17, 2019 by niart17 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Here is how I look at that date. The seven month siege of my base camp was finally broken on or about the 15th of July. I seriously doubt anybody there knew about a moon rocket, and doubt they cared! Glt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) Never knew about your base camp, we only knew about the moon rocket here in the U.S. I was 16 and in H.S. Would sign up for the Draft in 2 years, got a call from my older brother stationed at Forbes reminding me to sign up. jon Edited July 24, 2019 by jonwinn grammar Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Matt Foley Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Holy smokes most of us "Boomers" are posting here and it gives me a great insight into each of you. I was a mere 10 years of age but I did watch the landing with the family gathered around the TV that Sunday afternoon. My great grandfather who was 90 at the time refused to believe it. He refused to acknowledge the feat all the way to his passing at age 94. Now, I have a wife who is from the former Soviet Union and who was taught growing up that "there is no proof the Americans did any Moon landing"...... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Matt Foley Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 17 hours ago, ChesshireCat said: Here is how I look at that date. The seven month siege of my base camp was finally broken on or about the 15th of July. I seriously doubt anybody there knew about a moon rocket, and doubt they cared! Glt What base camp Chessire? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Michael A. Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I was within a couple of weeks from graduating EOD School at Indian Head, Md. It was a pretty intense study time and I was not keeping up with current events at the time. Great news when I finally realized the magnitude of the accomplishment. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 On 7/18/2019 at 8:34 AM, Mr Matt Foley said: What base camp Chessire? Thien Phouc Special Forces Camp. Find DaNang on a map, then follow Highway One south to Tam Key. Follow the road west till it ends. The head further west till you come to a good sized river close to the Hiep Duc Ridge. We operated out of A102, but covered a fifteen miles radius on op's. I been three hundred yards off the Lao border. North to about two klicks south of the Ashau Valley. South to the Two Corp border a couple times. Yet that base camp was home ( still is). I did Tet so well in 68, that I got to do it all over again in 69. That base camp was under siege from three full strength NVA Divisions for close to six months. He was inside the wire every night, and often in broad daylight. When it broke Giap had about a Division and a half. And all we wanted was pizza and ice cream! Gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 On 7/17/2019 at 4:44 PM, Mr Matt Foley said: Holy smokes most of us "Boomers" are posting here and it gives me a great insight into each of you. I was a mere 10 years of age but I did watch the landing with the family gathered around the TV that Sunday afternoon. My great grandfather who was 90 at the time refused to believe it. He refused to acknowledge the feat all the way to his passing at age 94. Now, I have a wife who is from the former Soviet Union and who was taught growing up that "there is no proof the Americans did any Moon landing"...... I was 12; I vividly recall the major events. Watching and listening to Apollo In Real Time has brought me right back to that time--gave me chills. My grandmother, bless her soul, agreed with your grandfather. She was a teenager when the Wright brothers flew. To think she saw aviation develop from the first flight to the first moon landing is wonderous to me! My then future wife was in Poland. She was somehow able to watch the moon landing on TV, and apparently said that's what she wanted to when she grew up. People around her thought that was cute, but... Well, her parents managed to leave Poland, which was quite an ordeal, she got a mechanical engineering degree here in the US, and a job working on satellites for Hughes. She's now, literally, a retired rocket scientist. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
silver69 Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 I was all of 6 and remember my Grandmother doing her best to keep me awake to see Neil step on the moon. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 To celebrate 50 years I watched “In the Shadow of the Moon” on dvd Friday night. On Saturday I attended “Moon Day” at Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas. They had several speakers and lectures/presentations and many STEM exhibitors to inspire kiddos. I won a year membership to the museum in a trivia game where no one, NO ONE, knew which Apollo mission was the first manned flight. Kind of sad considering they have the Apollo 7 capsule on display there, and people had been lining up all day to look inside. Saturday night I listened to the moonwalk replayed on the “Apollo in Realtime” website. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Matt Foley Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 29 minutes ago, habu2 said: To celebrate 50 years I watched “In the Shadow of the Moon” on dvd Friday night. On Saturday I attended “Moon Day” at Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas. They had several speakers and lectures/presentations and many STEM exhibitors to inspire kiddos. I won a year membership to the museum in a trivia game where no one, NO ONE, knew which Apollo mission was the first manned flight. Kind of sad considering they have the Apollo 7 capsule on display there, and people had been lining up all day to look inside. Saturday night I listened to the moonwalk replayed on the “Apollo in Realtime” website. I watched from Earth to the Moon yesterday and then "First Man" last night on HBO. What a great movie. Apollo 7 is as forgotten as Apollo 12. Apollo 11 was a historical trip and then the next I remember was Apollo 13 and the crew barely making it back home. In between we did have the successful Apollo 12 but who remembers that? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Matt Foley Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 10 hours ago, ChesshireCat said: Thien Phouc Special Forces Camp. Find DaNang on a map, then follow Highway One south to Tam Key. Follow the road west till it ends. The head further west till you come to a good sized river close to the Hiep Duc Ridge. We operated out of A102, but covered a fifteen miles radius on op's. I been three hundred yards off the Lao border. North to about two klicks south of the Ashau Valley. South to the Two Corp border a couple times. Yet that base camp was home ( still is). I did Tet so well in 68, that I got to do it all over again in 69. That base camp was under siege from three full strength NVA Divisions for close to six months. He was inside the wire every night, and often in broad daylight. When it broke Giap had about a Division and a half. And all we wanted was pizza and ice cream! Gary Your base camp is one of the many never publicized when compared to Khe Sanh et.al. Glad you made it out alive, I'm sure you could tell us some very sad stories both from the experience and the return home. God bless ya. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 8 hours ago, Mr Matt Foley said: Your base camp is one of the many never publicized when compared to Khe Sanh et.al. Glad you made it out alive, I'm sure you could tell us some very sad stories both from the experience and the return home. God bless ya. Matt, Our base camp was four hundred yards long and maybe three hundred yards wide. Stuck deep in a valley at the south end of the Hiep Duc. No infantry close by except for a company of ARVN Rangers and about a hundred twenty strikers. You got in trouble, you were pretty much on your own. All seventy five of us! I was lucky as I'd broke bread with NVA up close and personal several times. The Hiep Duc / Que Son Valley was as tough as any place in country. You heard of it, but with different nicnames. Like Death Valley, Indian Country, and a few unprintable names. Don't whine and cry about it, as it's all I know. The folks often cry about four hundred mortar rounds in a day, try eight thousand in ten days (confirmed). You just learn to survive. Still it was a horrible way to waste human lives. Glt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 8 hours ago, Mr Matt Foley said: Your base camp is one of the many never publicized when compared to Khe Sanh et.al. Glad you made it out alive, I'm sure you could tell us some very sad stories both from the experience and the return home. God bless ya. Just to add to the above. There have been seven CMH's awarded in the fifteen mile radius, with at least two more pending. Silver stars were common, and it seems like everybody had a bronze star. Oak Leaf clusters are what sets them apart. Untill very recently, there were very few photos from the AO. They just found a few hundred, and some still make the hair stand up on my neck. Gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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