THE EAGLE HAS LANDED July 20th 1969

[DaveTN]

 At 3:17 PM today it has been 50 years since we heard those words. 

Vice President Pence gave a rousing speech today from Kennedy space center.

Reviving the space program would be quite a feat. I’m sure we have the ability, but I question we can get anything done that requires the approval of congress.

[DaveTN]

Some of us (old guys) even remember a man that climbed into a capsule on top of a missile designed to deliver a nuclear warhead.

Quote

 

The friendship 7 rattled and shook and only a brave man dared to look,
along the capsule through space by the will of man and the hand of grace:
I am go, I am go.

He went three times around, from day to night. And the people wondered, would it be his last flight, would the rockets all fire, every man felt fear. But control could hear John loud and clear: I feel fine, I feel fine.

 

 

[Quavodus]

50 years ago today. WOW!

[Mike.357]

[peejman]

We watched the "lost footage" specials on TV last night, really interesting stuff. We don't have enough tolerance for risk to do stuff like that anymore. 

[Dirtshooter]

I recall laying in front of the T.V. and I have the sound recorded on a reel to reel tape deck. For our younger members that pre dates 4 track tapes, 8 track tapes, casettes,cd's bluetooth,etc. LOL

[OLDNEWBIE]

Not a Kennedy fan and reports say he got wishy washy on the program for political reasons but he sure got everyone fired up about space and deserves much credit for our acheivement with these two speeches. Polar opposite of Dem speeches of today about ask what your Country can do for you! But I digress.

 

Kennedy stood before Congress on May 25, 1961, and proposed that the US "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

 

The Rice University Speech

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.

[OLDNEWBIE]

On 7/20/2019 at 2:47 PM, Quavodus said:

50 years ago today. WOW!

I was 5. Not sure I remember 11 but Apollo13 was on my radar for sure.

[No_0ne]

4 hours ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

I was 5. Not sure I remember 11 but Apollo13 was on my radar for sure.

I was 8.  I wanted to stay up and watch the actual egress from the lander, but Mom was adamant that it would be way too late for me to stay up and I could see it in the morning.  I found out the next day that Armstrong went out at about 10 pm, which even though was later than my usual bedtime, wasn't out of the question for summer.  I still haven't forgiven my mother ...

[jpx2rk]

I remember watching a lot of the launches/returns on TV whenever I could, but I was 14 back when they landed on the moon, so I had other things on my mind as well.  I watched or recorded the anniversary shows to watch later.

Going back to the moon would be a cool thing, but the expense would be very high, and not sure if country could really afford to do it.  There would be so much bickering about it, it would diminish the accomplishment(s).

[Quavodus]

I was just 2. I didn't even know anything about it for several more years.

[Grunt67]

On 7/21/2019 at 1:45 PM, Dirtshooter said:

I recall laying in front of the T.V. and I have the sound recorded on a reel to reel tape deck. For our younger members that pre dates 4 track tapes, 8 track tapes, casettes,cd's bluetooth,etc. LOL

Hate to admit it, but I remember the reel to reel quite well, & had one. LOL

[DaveTN]

I still have an Akai Reel to Reel with an 8-track deck in the side; and it still works.

[E4 No More]

My father worked in the IT department for Kansas City Life Insurance Company for decades. Around about the time of the moon landing, he took me to his work and showed me three huge floors with nothing but rows of reel-to-reel tape machines for the company's mainframe. It's hard to believe that my phone holds more data than all of those reel-to-reel tapes combined back then.