Wednesday, July 20, 2016

One Small Step....One Giant Leap


I know exactly where I was on this date in 1969.  I was sitting in front of an old black & white television set in the family room of my childhood home in Quincy Illinois along with my parents as we watched Neil Armstrong make that first step on to the surface of the moon.  What a monumental event.  It was one of those events in life that stays with you for a long time.

Today our explorations into the space outside of the earth's atmosphere have evolved and advanced and we now have an International Space Station that is in constant orbit around our planet.  Many times, I've walked outside to watch that station pass overhead.  It's just a light in the sky but it thrills me every time I see it.  Did you know that you can see it too?  Go to the "Spot the Station" website and enter your location information and they will give you a schedule of when the station will pass overhead where you are.  The time and direction is very precise and accurate.

So, where were you on this date in 1969?

12 comments:

  1. I knew that you could see it as a little light, didn't know about the web site, will have to check it out. I woke up in the middle of the night maybe six or seven hours ago and saw the most amazing light up moon, but i was a bit too tired to figure out where I had the camera.

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  2. I was on Holiday in Ireland and in a Hotel near Galway & like you watched it on a B&W TV

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  3. It was an exciting time in our lives. I was in summer cottage with no TV. I had to catch up with reruns.

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  4. I remember the event but have no clue as to where I was or what I was doing. At that time I was living in Glenview, Illinois. Thanks for the link. I'll have to check that out.

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  5. I watched it on the motel TV in St. Joseph, Missouri. Good moon shot and I had not thought about it being the anniversary of the moon landing today.

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  6. An excellent moon shot. That date was years before I was born. I know my mother stayed up. My father went to bed.

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  7. I think I was probably on holiday in London, which for someone who grew up in a small town in Central Africa, was absolutely memorable 😃 Excellent shot Sharon.

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  8. I was doing summer stock at Candlewood Playhouse in New Fairfield, CT. We were doing a 10 out of 12 hour rehearsal and we stopped to watch the moon landing. That put us behind schedule and we worked till 4 in the morning. That night I met a member of the South Pacific cast who was my friend for the next 12 years.

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  9. I was at home at my parents house too! So many changes in our lifetime, Sharon!

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  10. We were living in suburban Washington, D.C. at the time. My parents may have tried to get me to watch it, but I wasn't even 3 yet so I doubt I was interested!

    The beautiful thing about the moon landing was the lift it gave to humanity -- the hope. In America we were at the end of an exhausting and tragic decade, mired in a distant war and unrest at home, putting men on the moon reminded us that we were capable of amazing and GOOD things. You know?

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  11. I, too, recall that event, sitting in a neighbour's house with my almost-two-year old son on my lap, both impressed by the event and envious that I could not have been a part of it! Years later I was equally impressed that a female teacher was selected to be a part of the historic flight into space but which ended so tragically. One of my colleagues did not make the cut, and, in the long run, we were very happy that he missed it.

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