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Author
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Topic: Apollo 11 eyewitness mission accounts
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Tom
Member Posts: 1610
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 03-20-2012 05:59 PM
   
This thread has brought back some real great memories. On August 13, 1969 my Dad brought me to lower Manhattan in New York City to see the Apollo 11 crew tickertape parade. In 2006, I had the honor of meeting Neil Armstrong during the John Glenn lecture series in Washington. Even though I knew Mr. Armstrong no longer signed autographs, it was a thrill to show him a photo I had taken that day of him and his crew and to shake his hand! |
Space Cadet Carl
Member Posts: 225
From: Lake Orion, Michigan
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 03-22-2012 10:09 AM
My 14 year old mind was constantly dreaming about engineering and technology while watching Apollo 11 in 1969. That flight and the entire Apollo program was a huge catalyst in sparking my interest in engineering... along with millions of other American kids. |
DChudwin
Member Posts: 1110
From: Lincolnshire IL USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-02-2012 04:46 PM
I am pleased to learn that an article I wrote about my Apollo 11 launch eyewitness experience will appear in the January 2013 issue of Spaceflight, the publication of the British Interplanetary Society. The cover of the issue is a photo I took of the Saturn V on the pad 2 days before the launch. (See Fig. 3 from my post of 5/2/09 upthread) |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1940
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 01-19-2014 11:07 PM
I thought that people who witnessed the launch up close might find interesting a large panoramic photo I bought a while back. (It's actually an ad for the Hycon camera company.) You can see the seats for the media to the right, and then a surprisingly uncrowded field with more spectators. David Chudwin might be visible in that area. 
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Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 986
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 01-20-2014 04:48 PM
quote:
Originally posted by stsmithva:
You can see the seats for the media to the right, and then a surprisingly uncrowded field with more spectators.
Nice photo. Thanks for posting.For launches from Complex 39 photographers usually lined up along the edge of the turn basin for a good view. That "open area" there was level ground and one would be looking at the back of the people up front. Over closer to the grandstand there was a slight hill where attendees also gathered and didn't block the view of those in the seats rising behind them. |
rarmstrong
Member Posts: 17
From: Cincinnati, OH USA
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 01-20-2014 07:27 PM
I Just came upon this thread, really really enjoyed it. I was 12 and watched the launch from a boat on the Banana River with my mom and little brother. Our angle was such that the main exhaust plume came our direction, so we saw a lot of smoke and it seemed like a long time before the nose of the Saturn 5 peaked out. There is nothing like a Saturn 5 launch...Rick Armstrong |
Tom
Member Posts: 1610
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 01-20-2014 08:37 PM
Rick, welcome to collectSPACE. It's great talking with you. I'm sure that is a day you will never forget. A couple of years after your dad's historic flight I had a chance to see the Apollo 15 launch, and had a similar view from Port Canaveral that you had. You are right... it seemed so long for the Saturn 5 to appear from the initial launch plume. What an experience!
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-21-2014 09:26 AM
Here is a link to a couple of LIFE magazine photos taken that day. |
Sputnik 1
Member Posts: 49
From: Heilbronn, Germany
Registered: Jul 2011
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posted 01-21-2014 09:48 AM
quote:
Originally posted by rarmstrong:
I Just came upon this thread, really really enjoyed it.
Rick: Welcome to collectSPACE. It is great that you read this forum and join us. I am in the same age like you and I am remembering also the start from Apollo 11 in front of the TV, sitting on the floor on the continent Europe, Germany. The live-broadcast from Cape Canaveral was moderated by Heinrich Schiemann. Pictures in black and white on a very small screen. What an event. Dr. Paul Deister |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2141
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 01-21-2014 12:27 PM
That panoramic shot is great, I haven't seen that before. Wasn't Hycon the company that made the pano cameras on the J-missions? Lucky you didn't lean to far forward with those binoculars Rick.  — Adam (On edit: 23-1-14, I didn't want to drag the thread off topic to admit my mistake, lol. Hycon was onboard U-2 and Apollo 14, pano camera was ITEK.) |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1313
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 01-23-2014 02:58 PM
Great that this forum also attracts people like Neil's son, Sy Liebergot and other space personalities. It adds a great perspective to events discussed here on cS.Although I didn't attend the Apollo launches in person, I was lucky to see Columbia/STS-9 in 1983, barely 11 years after the last Apollo-Saturn V launch, from the same press site shown in the photo. In fact, I was standing just about where the man in the dark suit is in the middle of the photo close-up. The bleachers seemed to have been untouched since the Apollo days. |
astrorero
Member Posts: 43
From: San Dimas, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 01-24-2014 10:18 AM
I was on a two week leave from the Army and having pizza at a pizza place when I watched Neil Armstong take take his first step on the moon. Exactly one week later I shipped out to Vietnam. |
DChudwin
Member Posts: 1110
From: Lincolnshire IL USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 01-29-2014 05:47 PM
Thanks to Steve for posting the panoramas of the Apollo 11 press site — I had not seen those photos. I visited the press site the morning of July 16, 1969 but then watched the launch from a grassy area in front of the VIP site, the location of NASA's guests. Upthread I posted another picture of the press site. Of course Rick Armstrong had the best view from the boat used by the crew families. Nice to see you here, Rick. For space enthusiasts and Apollo 11 junkies like me, it is a special treat to talk to participants in Apollo 11. For example, Fred Haise was Apollo 11 backup LMP and closed out the spacecraft. Charlie Duke, Bruce McCandless and Owen Garriott were CAPCOMs (along with the late Ron Evans). Gene Kranz, Jerry Griffin and Glynn Lunney were Flight Directors (along with the late Cliff Charlesworth). Some of these key personnel will be at Spacefest where they are usually willing to talk about their participation. While other Apollo missions were historic (Apollo 8 and 13 come to mind), Apollo 11 was the grand daddy of them all. |
Rusty53
Member Posts: 50
From: Rochester, NY USA
Registered: Jun 2010
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posted 01-29-2014 06:30 PM
Most of us watched our dads leave for work in a car. Rick got to watch his dad leave in a Saturn V!! Welcome, Rick. |
Paul78zephyr
Member Posts: 678
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 01-29-2014 07:26 PM
quote:
Originally posted by astrorero:
I was on a two week leave from the Army and having pizza at a pizza place when I watched Neil Armstong take take his first step on the moon. Exactly one week later I shipped out to Vietnam.
Thank you for your service. |
rarmstrong
Member Posts: 17
From: Cincinnati, OH USA
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 01-29-2014 08:08 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Rusty53:
Most of us watched our dads leave for work in a car. Rick got to watch his dad leave in a Saturn V!
Only once, and I think he was technically already at work at that point... |
Rusty53
Member Posts: 50
From: Rochester, NY USA
Registered: Jun 2010
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posted 01-29-2014 09:16 PM
That's a very good point! |
Buel
Member Posts: 653
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 01-30-2014 12:25 AM
Rick, I hope you get the time to share any of your first hand experiences with us. Any would be fascinating! Thank you. |
Philip
Member Posts: 6002
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02-01-2014 01:32 PM
Thanks for sharing this superb panoramic photo of the crowd in July 1969! |
DChudwin
Member Posts: 1110
From: Lincolnshire IL USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-10-2014 08:29 PM
As the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11 approaches, I have been posting online on Facebook an ongoing, serialized version of my in-person Apollo 11 mission account. I have also put them up on a blog for those interested. The series is more heavily illustrated than the account I wrote upthread here for cS. |
RISPACE
Member Posts: 67
From: Warwick, RI USA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 07-18-2014 01:15 PM
quote:
Originally posted by DChudwin:
I have also put them up on a blog for those interested.
Really enjoyed your Apollo 11 blog. Very detailed and well written - felt like I was there with you. |
KAlexander
New Member Posts: 5
From: Fullerton, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 07-22-2014 12:35 PM
It is hard to believe that 45 years have passed since the amazing odyssey of Apollo 11. As a young press photographer (I just turned 18 the week before the launch), I was one of the fortunate few to have a front row seat — my press credentials put me at the edge of the turn basin. I set my equipment next to the flagpole that was visible in all launch views; and, is still there today.  Positioned closer to the launch than the TV network studios, the likes of Walter Cronkite and Wally Schirra, were visible from behind!  We were easily able to see the transfer van carry the astronauts to the pad from the VAB area.  After seemingly hours in the Florida heat and humidity, at 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11 lifted off. Seconds later the full sound and fury of the Saturn V hit us — a moment I shall never forget.  Weeks later, Neil returned to his hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio for a homecoming. By hanging from a fire escape along the parade route, I got this shot of Neil giving the A-OK sign to one of his friends.  |
DChudwin
Member Posts: 1110
From: Lincolnshire IL USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 07-22-2014 02:51 PM
Kevin, I really enjoyed your pictures. For years I thought that my friend Marv Rubenstein and I were perhaps the youngest reporters with NASA press credentials. I had just turned 19. However, you beat us out for that distinction. We represented the College Press Service, a group of college newspapers, while you were with a "real"news outlet. I have recently blogged about my own Apollo 11 experiences and also put the blog posts on Facebook's Space Hipsters group. It was so thrilling to be there at that young age, an excitement I am sure you also experienced. |
DrMarv
New Member Posts: 3
From: Northbrook, IL, USA
Registered: Jun 2009
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posted 06-30-2015 02:53 PM
Kevin: I guess I was not the youngest reporter there. I am two months younger than Dave, so I thought I was the only 18 year old there. It was quite a thrill. Great pictures you posted. |
Peter S
Member Posts: 101
From: Toronto, Ontario , Canada
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 01-01-2018 05:03 PM
July 1969, we had just come to Canada from Germany. I was four. We had a black and white set, and my father had a few cameras, so we did our best to record history. This was how we saw man's first steps on the moon. Almost 50 years ago. Shows you how much technology has advanced in such a short period of time. My father worked for Carl Zeiss, and they were a contracted supplier for the space program through to the 70's, so he would come home with some pretty cool books, and photos. This is when the space geek bug bit for me.  
These last two are a bit of a mystery, as I can't recall ever seeing shots like this from the surface images of Apollo 11... do these look like some kind of studio model, or mock-ups? 
Anyway, thought you all would find these kind of cool... |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1428
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 01-01-2018 07:09 PM
Yes, they're studio mockups used for the Apollo 12 mission after the intended live transmissions were cut short due to the "loss" of the camera. |
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