I hope somebody launched a Saturn V somewhere. 47 years ago today.

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I love sanding.

Not launched but almost done.

So who's the guy in the suit?

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If it flies, I can crash it!

Aldrin

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I love sanding.

I'm glad I'm old enough to remember that glorious day!

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Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078

I was 13. I remember watching it on our B&W TV.

I remember that, too, but I was 9. I was already hooked on model rocketry , building and launching all by myself! Still had to get dad or a friend's dad to take us to Hilton Field at Ft. Jackson to do that.
Those were the days...
Even still have a few i built back then, amazingly!

Allen

Wow, 47 years!

Seems like not many people under 60 remember.

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"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

http://sandmandecals.com/

I was about three weeks shy of turning 7 that Sunday eve 47 years ago and it is one of my strongest memories of the latter 1960s. I even recall that as the actual video feed of Neil coming down the ladder started coming through it was actually inverted for some number of seconds (maybe half a minute) before the crew at the Honeysuckle Creek recieving dish in Australia 'flipped' the image right side up.

The actual camera on the LM was mounted on a fold down shelf that had to be released by Neil with a lanyard when he was on the 'porch' of the LM at the top of the ladder at the hatch. The camera was actually mounted on this shelf upside down (the top of the camera was broader and more flat than the bottom as I recall, making it more secure I guess to mount it upside down). As I seem to recall reading, the crew at Honeysuckle Creek had a simple flip switch in place that would readily 'flip' the video signal for that part of the broadcast, but they were a bit late (probably all agog like the rest of us) in throwing the switch, so that the video signal initially was upside down as Neil came down the ladder.

Once both Neil and Buzz were on the surface, this same camera was removed from the shelf at some point during the moonwalk and set up on a tripod some distance away to provide a wider view of Neil and Buzz going about their work.

The first eight minutes of the broadcast were picked up by the Honeysuckle Creek dish, after which time the stronger signal from the Parkes dish (also in Australia) took over. The 2000 movie "The Dish" is a very entertaining movie about the Parkes receiving dish. Though not completely, totally historically accurate, it captures, I think, VERY well the excitement of those days (interesting, from an Aussie perspective) of man actually walking on the moon for the first time. One of my favorite 'space' movies.

But yes, wow, 47 years ago. Where does time slip off to? Sad that Neil is no longer with us. Met him once during a dinner celebrating the 30th anniversary of Apollo 11 at Kennedy Space Center. Very humble and gracious man. I felt like that seven year old kid again standing next to him talking for the few moments I had with him. We don't have many heroes like him left any longer.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970