Apollo 11 captivated the world, had me glued to the TV

By John Toth

The Bulletin

It was July 25, 1969, the day I found myself glued to the television set as the Apollo 11 Astronauts prepared to land on the moon.

I was 13 years old, about to start 8th grade in September. I wasn’t thinking about that, though. I was focused on Walter Cronkite on the CBS Television Network, as he was broadcasting in his trusted deep voice every detail.

I was sort of a tech geek, and the moon landing was at the top of my must-watch list.

Billions of us were watching. For a brief time, the whole world was focused on one thing - to see if two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, could land on the moon and safely return to Earth. The third astronaut, Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot), kept orbiting the moon, hoping that he’d be able to return to Earth with his fellow astronauts.

Nothing before or since, as far as I remember, has brought the world together like this event..

I watched the blast-off earlier, and the preparation of the Lunar Module (The Eagle). But space missions had been going on for a long time already, and the Lunar Module undocking and docking was practiced on earlier Apollo missions. This mission was the one that would do something that had never been tried before. Would they even make it?

I was staring at the TV set in amazement as the Lunar Module undocked from the Command Module and started its descent to the moon. A monochrome camera was broadcasting it to the world live as the module got closer to the moon’s surface.

I don’t think I was even blinking. The screen went dark as the moon debris kicked up by the Lunar Module engine covered the camera’s window. A few seconds later, we heard: “Houston, The Eagle has landed.”

We didn’t realize at the time how close they came to running out of fuel because the initial spot they selected for landing turned out not to be suitable.

Armstrong took over the controls and guided The Eagle to the Sea of Tranquility. This required split-second decisions and expert piloting skills. The Eagle gently touched down on the moon.

Computing power at the time was limited. The Eagle’s Guidance Computer became overloaded and set off alarms. Fortunately, the software was designed to handle such situations. It was equipped with a “restart” function that would automatically reboot the computer and prioritize critical tasks, such as maintaining descent engine control and displaying essential information on the astronauts.

Ground control, having practiced for such scenarios during extensive simulations, was able to quickly inform the astronauts that it was safe to proceed. It was all in a day’s work. But this was just the beginning.

I turned to my mother and asked: “What do you think their chances are of coming back?”

We both knew one thing. Armstrong and Aldrin dispelled all rumors that the moon was made out of cheese.

And, The Eagle didn’t sink into the lunar surface, never to be seen again. No one knew for sure until the landing, although I’m certain that those planning the mission discounted that possibility a long time beforehand.

Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon on July 21, uttering the famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. Aldrin followed about 19 minutes later.

Then they planted the American flag, carried out a bunch of experiments, collected loads of rocks, got back in The Eagle and prepared for blast-off.

Would it work? It had never been done before. It worked just as planned. The Eagle lifted off the moon and returned to the Command Module.

Armstrong and Aldrin spent approximately two and a quarter hours exploring the lunar surface at Tranquility Base.

After lifting off from the moon and rejoining Collins in the Command Module, the crew returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. The mission lasted 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds.

It was exciting. I decided then that I wanted to be an astronaut, but that was not very likely, so I  decided to become an electronics engineer. Later, I decided to become a writer, and I am so glad I did and am able to relive and share my account of this historic achievement.

Where were you when The Eagle landed on the moon? Send me a brief note - we’ll share it with our readers.