We are less than a month away from the 50th anniversary of the first time mankind walked on the moon. I was 17 years old, about to be a senior in high school. I have some clear memories of it, while other things quite famous I have no memory of at all.
I thought I’d do a brief series (maybe three posts scattered over the next three to four weeks) about my memories of it. I hope my readers won’t mind this departure from my regular posts, which are related to writing.
Yesterday evening, after my wife and I watched a 1996 Sherlock Holmes movie, we switched to regular TV to see what we could find. It happened to be the top of the hour, and we saw the start of a National Geographic program on the moon race. That took me back to my first introduction of how we were going to get to the moon.
It was in August 1965. I was at Camp Yawgoog, the Boy Scout camp in SW Rhode Island, my first year to go to scout camp. That week is more memorable for what happened on Sunday, after Dad picked me up and we headed home, but that’s another story, loosely recounted in my short story, “Mom’s Letter”. But I digress.
On Saturday evening, all the scouts, scouters, and staff gathered in the amphitheater for a program. It was done every week of the summer. This particular Saturday the program was about NASA’s space program, specifically about how we were going to get to the moon.
I don’t remember the name of the speaker or who he was with. He may have been someone NASA hired to get the word out. He did a fantastic job. He had models of the different space craft that would be used. The Mercury program was over by this time. The Gemini program had begun. He explained how that was for the purpose of testing vehicle docking in zero gravity, extra-vehicular activities, longer times in space such as what would be experienced in a moon shot. The models were large enough for us to easily see.
I remember how he described the many parts of the moon shot: the Apollo rocket to get them into earth orbit; the engine burn of the command module to boost them on a moon trajectory; the separation of the lunar module from the command module; the descent to the moon and landing; the burn of the LM engines to send half the LM back to the command module, leaving half of the LM on the moon; re-docking with the command module; and the return to earth.
That happened 54 years ago, but it is all very clear in my memory. I suppose it is because I found it fascinating. Prior to that, I had of course followed what NASA did. Each Mercury and Gemini flight had captured my interest. It was earlier that summer that the first EVA had happened. While I was at camp Gemini 5 was in space, the first flight to go beyond a few days in space. So I wasn’t ignorant of the space program, but that presentation helped me to understand it better, gave me something to judge progress against as future flights would occur.
I’m glad to have such memories of the space program as it was during it’s early days, and am sorry for the kids of today that don’t have that sort of thing. Space travel still isn’t commonplace, but it doesn’t get news coverage as it used to. And that’s too bad.
I appreciate your good memory David. Yes I agree it was exciting times. You managed to bring it all back in your blog here. It is still intriguing to me.
It’s true it’s not given the publicity it once got. However, I’m sure it’s because it doesn’t get the funding it once did.
I’ve had the privilege to get to visit JPL in Pasadena CA. About 27 years ago, where a special tour given by my uncle who was in staff at the time. He had been a big part of such projects in the space program there for years, going back and forth between there and Florida for NASA, in building of the Galileo and other big projects.
He has since retired from NASA and still living in Southern. I’ll be seeing him again soon, ( just throwing this in that if he comes back to BV to see me, I’ll see that you two meet I’m sure you two would share some passion for those days of flying to the moon and back.
Thanks for this reminder of those good ole days.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, BJ. Hope to see you today at the VLWP meeting.
Dave, I too have vivid memories of the the NASA space program. I was sick and at home the day of John Glenn’s first U.S. orbital flight, in Florida with grandparents the night of the Apollo 8 Christmas tv broadcast, and racing home from a shift at Burger Chef to catch the broadcast from Apollo 11 on the moon.
NASA unfortunately has lost much of its way these days. The robotic missions have been spectacular, but progress on the manned program is bogged down in bureaucracy and Congressional pork distribution. But at least the several private initiatives are having good success. The Behind the Black website is a great place to keep up with space exploration by all countries: https://behindtheblack.com/
Gary, I’ve wondered if they did that presentation every week at Yawgoog in the summer of 1965, or if it just happened to be the week I was there. You must have been at Yawgoog some week that summer. Do you remember this presentation?
No, I don’t recall it at Yawgoog. I went most years between 1964 and 1969; an exception may have been 1965. We visited grandparents in Florida during summers and there may have been a conflict in schedule. FWIW, my grandfather used to be in the camp show in the 1920s.