It was twenty years ago, today...

[den]

Actually it was 36 years ago, tomorrow, when an 8 year-old smart-arse sat down in front of a grainy B&W tele and was fascinated by images of a bloke walking on the moon. I found out many years later that Michael Collins didn't have a tele in the command module, and didn't see the moonwalk until he got back home. Time to watch my DVD of The Dish.

Google Maps show all the landing sites! Zoom right in-- you'll be amazed at the resolution.

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

*smiles* and I have a young geek with me who needs to see a certain sheep paddock :)

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Thanks for that link. I was twelve years old, that summer.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

I was 8-- ON THE DAY! YES! Hot Wheels, Lego and a Moon Landing. What a cool birthday.

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday, Batty!
You are indeed a jolly good fellow! :)

[guruwench.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday, Batty!!! Definitely a cool birthday. :D

As for the Moon landing, I was alive but a baby - literally. I was 45 days old. My mom remembers pushing me in my stroller, looking up at the Moon, and thinking, "My god, there's people up there."

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday!

My mother watched it from the hospital after I'd been born. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Haha...if you zoom RIGHT in it does an impression of some cheese.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Dad ran outside, pointed at the moon and shouted "LOOK! I can see them!" I squinted at the moon for a long time.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

I surprised we don't see Wallace & Gromit.

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

Oh! And a Happy Birthday to you, too!

[bearblue.livejournal.com]

(Meanwhile, Happy Birthday!!)

You're making me feel old.

[klishnor.livejournal.com]

I was already a teenager. My father, who was a postman, woke me up at a ridiculous hour of the night (4.30am I think it was) and I staggered downstairs to watch the landing and first walk live.

No one seemed to be able to talk about anything else for days afterwards.

Somewhere in the semi-housetrained Black Hole I use as a storage system I have a lot of old papers and magazines which were stuffed with articles about the mission, including the "gee whizz" stuff. For example:
1. The second stage of the Saturn Five had a skin efficiency (ie strength/thickness) which matched the average egg.
2. If tyres were made to the same standard of airtightness as the fueltanks of an S5, they would take 50 years to go flat.
3. One extra blob of solder on every joint, or one quarter of an inch too much wire in every run, and the total weight increase would exceed the fully fueled weight of the lander.

And those are just the ones I can remember off hand.