Fifty-five Years Ago Today

I was 17 and attending a summer course in geology at Syracuse University. Someone had a TV set in their dorm room, so some of the girls gathered there to watch. Meanwhile, back home, my dad recorded it on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. This was the home technology at the time - long before VCRs.
 

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It was a big deal at our house. I was married but living at home while waiting to join my husband in Turkiye.

My grandmother made a "moon cake" for the occasion, which was a work of art.

She had gone through several batches of icing until she attained the exact shade of grey she wanted for the lunar surface and the rocks. She had built a lunar lander out of popsicle sticks and toothpicks and had a tiny American flag in the "dust". She sculpted a little astronaut out of marzipan.

Grandma loved any occasion she could make a special cake for.
 
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It was 5:30 p.m. in Hawaii and we sat around with some people from my Dad's Ship.
Helped my dad take our TV out to the backyard where everybody had gathered.
Remember how proud the group was and they talked about the future.
Also remember my dad told me I could go surfing that morning, as long as I was home by 1 o'clock.

Glad I did.
 
July 20th, 1969, I was in London, in Piccadilly Circus to be exact. A hippie guy in flowing white pants & shirt was going through the crowd murmuring "They've landed on the moooooon." Tripping, I was sure.

What does 1974 have to do with anything? Jeez, wakey wakey.
 
I was a teenager working a summer job at a factory back then. I can remember staying up late to watch the lunar landing; dog tired the next day at work, but glad that I did it!

I can also remember being herded into my elementary school auditorium as a kid to watch the first Mercury astronaut launchings then on a black-and-white TV screen tiny by today’s standards. We were seeing history being made then, although I’d dream of flying cars, and thought that men would be walking on Mars long before now… 🚀
 
I was 24, had a house outside Louisville Ky, married with 4 little kids, and we watched it in the living room on the 21 inch Sears Silvertone TV. It was obviously a big deal, but between work and night school and the family, I really couldn't enjoy it as much as I would have otherwise.

I will say this, it took a HUGE amount of courage to get on a rocket ship and blast off into the unknown, with the knowledge that the stuff making it possible was likely purchased from the lowest bidder......
 
I woke my 3 yr. old son up so he could see this monumental feat. My dad sat looking at the TV with tears running down his cheeks. Of course, my son doesn't remember a thing about it.

Back in the 30s, my parents used to listen to Flash Gordon and Dad never, in his wildest dreams, thought he'd live to see this day,
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