Where were you on July 20, 1969? and what were you doing? For those of you who weren't alive yet....or don't remember...that was the day the first men landed on the moon. For those of us living here on the "Space Coast" it was all very exciting. My dad worked for NASA as a chemical engineer in the malfunctions lab. Whenever it was close to launch time...they worked day and night (as did many others) making sure that everything was in working order when it came time for the launch. People would make their way to Brevard County to catch a glimpse of the rocket launch...signs around town had messages to the astronauts and NASA workers..and everyone held their breath hoping everything would go off without a hitch. I can't imagine what the workers must have felt like...years of preparation and work to get to that moment..it was, as I said all very exciting.
Since we had a vested interest in the whole program being successful (my dad's job!) it was extra special. We had moved down to Florida a couple of years before that momentous day, when my dad got hired by NASA. (Years later we were visiting an old friend from Bethel Park, PA...where we had moved from...he told me "Ill never forget when your father went down for that interview. It was mid February in Pittsburgh (PA)
ie-miserable...cold,gray,snow, etc and he figured...Why Not? At the time he wasn't even sure he was that interested...but why not go see what it was all about. But when he returned to Bethel Park...he was excited and he said "I need to get in on that!" And shortly thereafter...he did....and he worked there until he retired....But...I digress....
The night of the scheduled moon landing and later the first walk on the moon...my mother had informed us that we all needed to be home and we would all watch it. That's all we heard about...once she gathered us all up we sat around my parents bedroom and watched the events unfold. We were on the floor, the bed, the chair...everyone was there. She had made sure we were all ready to watch as the hatch opened and the astronauts came out.....it was 10:39 pm (I had to look it up...I knew it was late...but honestly didn't remember the time without checking on Google). Well...once we were all in the room, she got on the bed and laid back on the pillows ........and fell SOUND ASLEEP! We tried to wake her up..."MOM! MOM!...wake up...the astronauts are coming out of the hatch...but we could not wake her up!She was out cold....haha (probably exhausted from watching all of us while my dad worked overtime the days before!) So...there we were...watching history in the making with my mother sound asleep on the bed! hahahahaha She watched the replay of course...but this was back before the days of CNN and nonstop news coverage...... (
breaking news...played over and over and over again ......if you missed it...you actually had to wait a while to see it again!
Many of the people who worked on the APOLLO program are now gone , like my Dad, and it's sad to see the manned space program winding down.....it so much a part of who we are and life on the "Space Coast". It hasn't been like those special days of the Apollo program in a long time.......but seeing the rockets launching and then returning(like the Shuttle) to the Cape is something you just have to experience to understand I think. So glance up at the moon and just THINK about the fact that MEN were
there looking down at the
EARTH....and try to grasp the enormity of that concept!
