Moon landing - 50 years

[marty998]

Later this week the world will mark an anniversary that is unusual for the reason that it is a good news story (as opposed to marking x number of years since the outbreak of war, famine, pestilence etc).

For those of you that were around at the time, would you care to share your experiences as to what the general feel and reactions were?

Was it driven by science or politics? Was it seen as a waste of money, a flight of fancy or a goal worth pursuing? Was there a celebrity culture/industry built up around the astronauts?

However it was received, it was, and remains, an astonishing feat of human ingenuity. A remarkable monument to what we are capable of.

Some background reading I've been getting through this afternoon for those interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing

Note the sheer number of failures experienced by both the Americans and the Russians in the very early days of the space race. Those failures would have been critically important and useful as learning experiences. It's fortunate that both sides continued to persist in trying to find a way through, nothing like the competitive drive to bring out success.

[happy]

I was aged 10 or 11 and at school. We were ushered into the largest schoolroom and sat on the floor watching it on black and white TV. It was mesmerising. I will never forget it. I can still hear those characteristic comm whistles and Neil Armstrong saying "one small step for man, one giant step for mankind".

My memory is that it was very much seen as a triumph of science. Of course there was the space race US vs USSR, but due to the cold war, that us vs them feeling insinuated itself into so many things that it was just noise in the background. And it maybe superior but there was kind of an assumption that the US would win the race.

Putting a man on the moon was just so much of a statement of what man could achieve, I don't recall too many naysayers. There was a lot less cynicism in those days it seems to me , but maybe I was just more naive. My recollection was that the general questioning of the value of the space program started quite a lot later.... the gains were not so large, and the costs were huge and people wondered where it was taking us.

The astronauts involved certainly were celebrities. But there was relatively little consumerist marketing, there just wasn't so much in those days. Now every kid would want a Neil Armstrong figurine, there'd be lego lunar modules etc etc. I don't recall any moon landing memorabilia being produced at the time.

[deborah]

Like you, we were all ushered into the largest school room - the school library, where the smallest kids were at the front, and each class filed in, in order behind them. We watched on the only television the school had - a small black and white one, yet everyone saw the picture and heard the words because we were all quiet. I can't remember waiting long before it happened.

It was seen as a monumental thing - mankind could do anything with science. I can't remember there being much us vs them, although we knew that it was the US that had done it. They had help from all around the world, and our own stations were the ones that ended up facing the moon at the time for the walk and transmitting the video signal - but it could easily have been others round the globe. I think I remember being told about the network of receiving stations as part of the leadup to the walk, and I think that here we saw it as an effort by the combined free world, rather than something the US did by itself. I think it was seen as being scientific rather than political. It's a pity that Honeysuckle Creek is only a slab of concrete now, but there were several tracking stations in the ACT, so it would have been silly to keep them all, and we still have the deep space complex.

Apollo 13 was a wake up call. It seemed a miracle that they made it back. After that, there was less euphoria about progress and manned space missions. The landings certainly made their mark on my peers. Several people I went to uni with went into space related careers, and a couple got jobs with NASA. One became an expert in Mars.

[geekette]

There's a podcast by the BBC called "13 minutes to the moon".  Well reviewed, lots of details, from what I've heard.  I've got it queued.

[Parizade]

Was it driven by science or politics? Was it seen as a waste of money, a flight of fancy or a goal worth pursuing? Was there a celebrity culture/industry built up around the astronauts?

Politically it seemed to cross all parties. The goal was originally stated by JFK, but Nixon carried out the final steps. To appreciate that, imagine Trump picking up the torch on something Obama started and making sure it was finished successfully. Sounds impossible politically doesn't it? But getting to the moon (before the USSR) mattered to almost everyone then.

We were also in a cold war with USSR, many people were building bomb shelters and stockpiling food for survival. The idea that another country had the technology to destroy us and was acquiring the technology to do it from outer space was beyond terrifying.

Politically the Viet Nam War was more concerning. I had four brothers who each had to face the possibility of being drafted into what seemed like certain death at the time. That got discussed (loudly) at the dinner table more often than moon landings.

Socially and culturally the world seemed to be falling apart. Leaders being assassinated, people I went to school with ODing on heroin, even the music was rebellious and revolutionary.

I think for me the moon landing made science look like the only good thing you could count on. Politicians were making everything worse while scientist and engineers were figuring out how to make miracles happen.

[RetiredAt63]

I think for me the moon landing made science look like the only good thing you could count on. Politicians were making everything worse while scientist and engineers were figuring out how to make miracles happen.

There are times my cynical side thinks this is still true.   ;-(

[Parizade]

I think for me the moon landing made science look like the only good thing you could count on. Politicians were making everything worse while scientist and engineers were figuring out how to make miracles happen.

There are times my cynical side thinks this is still true.   ;-(

I have zero confidence in any political solution to climate change, my only hope is that the scientists and engineers will make another miracle happen.

[CowboyAndIndian]

I was 10 years old and it absolutely changed my life.

No TV in India at that time, so I pored over the newspaper the next morning after my father was done reading with it. The grainy pictures were scanned and the article read multiple times. The next months National Geographic was a prized possession and I think I still have that copy. I remember the NG came with a thin plastic record which had the recording of "One small step.." as well as others.

This was the reason that I became an Engineer. I wanted to build things, especially related to space. When doing my Masters in Engineering, I finagled an internship with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and when I finished my Masters, I had a job there. I worked 2 years building satellites components (telemetry systems and ground check out tools), building the electronics and writing assembler to get them to work.

Then my Green Card came thru, having been sponsored by my sister almost 5 years before. I continued with electronics and software before moving completely to software but no more space work for me in the US.

50 years later, I still have not lost my fascination for space. I still wait with anticipation for every launch from SpaceX. I sat waiting to watch the moon launch by India yesterday (delayed due to tech snags). I am so excited that there is a new generation of entrepreneurs who are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in space.

[Samuel]

I think for me the moon landing made science look like the only good thing you could count on. Politicians were making everything worse while scientist and engineers were figuring out how to make miracles happen.

There are times my cynical side thinks this is still true.   ;-(

I have zero confidence in any political solution to climate change, my only hope is that the scientists and engineers will make another miracle happen.

The scientists and engineers made it happen but the impetus and funding came from politicians. The space race was primarily another front of the Cold War. It's amazing how quickly the USSR and the US developed the necessary technologies and how many risks they took doing so (to a degree inconceivable today*) when geopolitics necessitated it. It's also interesting how quickly the novelty wore off once the race was over. By Apollo 13, just 9 months later, the US TV networks weren't carrying any of the live broadcasts from the astronauts because Americans preferred their evening television be uninterrupted (at least until the explosion). The last Apollo mission was in December 1972 and no human has left low Earth orbit since. How many people enthralled by the moon landing would have predicted that?

I too look am looking to science and engineering for the main solutions to climate change but that won't happen until the threats becomes more concrete. Sad but true.

The astronauts involved certainly were celebrities. But there was relatively little consumerist marketing, there just wasn't so much in those days. Now every kid would want a Neil Armstrong figurine, there'd be lego lunar modules etc etc. I don't recall any moon landing memorabilia being produced at the time.

Fun fact: The early astronauts were basically un-insurable so they instead signed a bunch of special envelopes that their friends would have post marked on significant dates (launch day, landing day, etc) so that their families could sell them in the event they didn't come back...


* Edited to add: Rocket Men is a recent book I highly recommend. Tells the story of Apollo 8, which was supposed to be an Earth orbiting test flight but was changed to become the first lunar orbiting mission (and the first time humans left Earth's immediate vicinity) with three months notice. 7 months later was Apollo 11. That timeline is absurd.

[marty998]

I think for me the moon landing made science look like the only good thing you could count on. Politicians were making everything worse while scientist and engineers were figuring out how to make miracles happen.

There are times my cynical side thinks this is still true.   ;-(

I have zero confidence in any political solution to climate change, my only hope is that the scientists and engineers will make another miracle happen.

The scientists and engineers made it happen but the impetus and funding came from politicians. The space race was primarily another front of the Cold War. It's amazing how quickly the USSR and the US developed the necessary technologies and how many risks they took doing so (to a degree inconceivable today) when geopolitics necessitated it. It's also interesting how quickly the novelty wore off once the race was over. By Apollo 13, just 9 months later, the US TV networks weren't carrying any of the live broadcasts from the astronauts because Americans preferred their evening television be uninterrupted (at least until the explosion). The last Apollo mission was in December 1972 and no human has left low Earth orbit since. How many people enthralled by the moon landing would have predicted that?

I too look am looking to science and engineering for the main solutions to climate change but that won't happen until the threats becomes more concrete. Sad but true.

Yes, the lead time today in getting missions to the launch pad is much much longer these days (if they are NASA or government missions), though the "race" between private companies going on now is different but similar to the US / USSR race of the 20th Century.

[Samuel]

Yes, the lead time today in getting missions to the launch pad is much much longer these days (if they are NASA or government missions), though the "race" between private companies going on now is different but similar to the US / USSR race of the 20th Century.

Yeah, the profit motive is not far behind geopolitics when it comes to spurring innovation. Would be nice to find a way to connect both to the climate change problem.

[lost_in_the_endless_aisle]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

Regarding the moon landing's impact, I recall reading some accounts that the program was not popular for some period of time due to its high costs (several percent of GDP went towards Apollo at its height?). Overall, I think the program was a massive benefit due to:
1) spurring innovation that may have come much later if not for solving the specific and very ambitious problem
2) demonstrating US dominance over the USSR and the soft-power derived from doing so in the Cold War; and most importantly,
3) causing all people to re-conceptualize their existence in a new way that was not possible by means of any terrestrial endeavor

My opinion is that human space travel would be a net waste of money if not for #3. It's interesting that the political environment is so fraught with lunacy now that Musk is already considered guilty of running Martian slave-colonies in the minds of some! In the example of Mars and the stated goal of hedging against problems on Earth, I find Musk doing it out of vanity or for other suspicious and non-straightforward reasons much more likely--but if the outcome of such a mission is to inspire an entire generation and to lift people into an increased optimism for the future then I see it as a great investment.

[GuitarStv]

Was it driven by science or politics?

Just to go off on a tangent for a second . . .


Science is almost always driven by politics.  It's actually kinda useless on it's own.  Spending a billion dollars to investigate whether or not ants get depressed is as scientifically valid as spending a billion dollars to put a man on the moon, or cure lung cancer.  It's in the sociopolitical sphere where we decide what should take the priority with science.

In the 60's, it was politically decided that US research into getting to the moon was a priority.  Money and direction was given to scientists, and great things were achieved.  Today, it has been politically decided that there's no value to research into space.  Money has been taken away from NASA resulting in less research, and less development.

[talltexan]

I've been following the Relive Apollo 11 account on twitter. It's great fun every year!

This year, I'm basically unfollowing everyone else. Even JD Roth.

[Bateaux]

We have better cameras today.  They had better rockets back then.

[jim555]

I'm still waiting for electricity too cheap to meter and the flying cars.  Such high hopes back then.

[Cadman]

There's a podcast by the BBC called "13 minutes to the moon".  Well reviewed, lots of details, from what I've heard.  I've got it queued.

I made it through episode 7, and while it's a worthwhile listen, I think PBS' 3-ep video series "Chasing the Moon" does a much better job of retelling the events. Either way, it's a must-watch for those interested in the subject.

[deborah]

Honeysuckle Creek was only a very small backup station - it was never intended to be the only site anywhere with sight to the moon when the moonwalk occurred. As soon as the moon was visible from Parkes, the transmission was redirected there, but the first eight minutes of the walk were Honeysuckle Creek, and much more grainy. You can really see the difference in quality between the two stations, so it wasn’t just the technology improvements between now and then.

[kendallf]

I was almost 3 when Apollo 11 launched, so I don't remember it specifically, but I remember watching Apollo 17, which was the only night launch of the Apollo program, from my home in Hobe Sound, FL (~150 miles south of the launch). 

I remember lots of excitement and awe, along with a very Cold War era sense of pride in the US.  This was the period when we had nuclear bomb emergency drills in school, and almost everyone I knew was convinced that we would eventually have a war with the USSR.  My experience in this regard may have been colored by the fact that I was part of a very fundamentalist Christian sect, which viewed the Godless Communists as clear precursors of the AntiChrist.  They were convinced the Rapture was coming in their lifetime.

So, against that backdrop of fear, the space program was like the door to the future for me.  I read science fiction and Tom Swift, convinced that science and space as the new frontier would be the outlet for humanity to avoid destruction. 

Funny, I still feel that way.  Waiting on SpaceX's Starhopper test firing and the Crew Dragon launches later this year with excitement.  I went down to watch the Falcon Heavy launch earlier this year.  Like Elon Musk, I'd like to die on Mars.  Just not on impact.  :-D

[Travis]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

I love that series. My two favorite episodes have to be where the team is taught to be geologists, because that's all they had. These days space travel training is a little easier that a geologist could be brought on board to do the work.  The other is the one that delved into their personal lives and focused on the wives.  It was an eye opener to see how stressful the life was and that nearly every single couple finished the space race in divorce.

Regarding the moon landing's impact, I recall reading some accounts that the program was not popular for some period of time due to its high costs (several percent of GDP went towards Apollo at its height?)

Vietnam was also ramping up in costs at the same time.  Apollo was cut short around the same time Congress forced an end to the war.  Congress probably saw the program as another money suck once we got a couple missions to the moon under our belt.  If we only had to worry about the space race rather than Vietnam we could have probably kept that level of funding for a while longer.

[talltexan]

An Excellent book that includes ample discussion of astronauts' married lives is Walt Cunningham's The All American Boys. He estimates that--if you compare the astronauts as a group to the larger population--they probably get divorced at about the same rate.

By the time I met him, Mr. Cunningham was already married to a wife other than the one from his spaceflight in 1968.

[Watchmaker]

"one small step for man, one giant step for mankind".

"one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" was Neil Armstrong's preferred version of the quote.

Whether he said the 'a' or not doesn't matter much to me; I think both versions work.

[lost_in_the_endless_aisle]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

I love that series. My two favorite episodes have to be where the team is taught to be geologists, because that's all they had. These days space travel training is a little easier that a geologist could be brought on board to do the work.  The other is the one that delved into their personal lives and focused on the wives.  It was an eye opener to see how stressful the life was and that nearly every single couple finished the space race in divorce.

I took some upper division geology so I knew a lot of geology professors. The character they had in the show was pretty much spot-on in his demeanor.

The other episode I found particularly good was the one where they spend years designing (and re-re-re-designing) the LEM.

[Telecaster]

Later this week the world will mark an anniversary that is unusual for the reason that it is a good news story (as opposed to marking x number of years since the outbreak of war, famine, pestilence etc).

For those of you that were around at the time, would you care to share your experiences as to what the general feel and reactions were?

Was it driven by science or politics? Was it seen as a waste of money, a flight of fancy or a goal worth pursuing? Was there a celebrity culture/industry built up around the astronauts?

I was just little kid, too young to remember Apollo 11.  But I remember everyone was glued to the TV for the subsequent moon shots, either at home or at school.  I do have a very clear memory of looking up at the moon and realizing people were up there.    At the time it seemed to be a great source of national pride. 

[Travis]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

I love that series. My two favorite episodes have to be where the team is taught to be geologists, because that's all they had. These days space travel training is a little easier that a geologist could be brought on board to do the work.  The other is the one that delved into their personal lives and focused on the wives.  It was an eye opener to see how stressful the life was and that nearly every single couple finished the space race in divorce.

I took some upper division geology so I knew a lot of geology professors. The character they had in the show was pretty much spot-on in his demeanor.

The other episode I found particularly good was the one where they spend years designing (and re-re-re-designing) the LEM.

They had the best design and it still more than doubled in budget. Coming up with something revolutionary from scratch isn't cheap.


And those poor squash balls left on the roof...

[marty998]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

I love that series. My two favorite episodes have to be where the team is taught to be geologists, because that's all they had. These days space travel training is a little easier that a geologist could be brought on board to do the work.  The other is the one that delved into their personal lives and focused on the wives.  It was an eye opener to see how stressful the life was and that nearly every single couple finished the space race in divorce.

I took some upper division geology so I knew a lot of geology professors. The character they had in the show was pretty much spot-on in his demeanor.

The other episode I found particularly good was the one where they spend years designing (and re-re-re-designing) the LEM.

They had the best design and it still more than doubled in budget. Coming up with something revolutionary from scratch isn't cheap.


And those poor squash balls left on the roof...

Serious tangentially related question about the design of the Lander.... after the Apollo 13 debacle of the incompatibility of the CO2 scrubbers between the Lander and the Command Module, did they redesign them to be a similar shape? No more square pegs in round holes?

[soccerluvof4]

So it really did happen and is not a conspiracy? shocked :-)

[markbike528CBX]

Highly recommend: 13 Minutes to the Moon.
A multi-part podcast that really dives deep into what happened, and why.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2/episodes/downloads

[talltexan]

Apollo 11 is currently 93,085 miles above the earth, traveling at 5,638 feet per second.

[Travis]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

I love that series. My two favorite episodes have to be where the team is taught to be geologists, because that's all they had. These days space travel training is a little easier that a geologist could be brought on board to do the work.  The other is the one that delved into their personal lives and focused on the wives.  It was an eye opener to see how stressful the life was and that nearly every single couple finished the space race in divorce.

I took some upper division geology so I knew a lot of geology professors. The character they had in the show was pretty much spot-on in his demeanor.

The other episode I found particularly good was the one where they spend years designing (and re-re-re-designing) the LEM.

They had the best design and it still more than doubled in budget. Coming up with something revolutionary from scratch isn't cheap.


And those poor squash balls left on the roof...

Serious tangentially related question about the design of the Lander.... after the Apollo 13 debacle of the incompatibility of the CO2 scrubbers between the Lander and the Command Module, did they redesign them to be a similar shape? No more square pegs in round holes?

No changes were made to Apollo CO2 scrubbers.  They did significant modifications to the O2 tanks and fuel cells on the command module (the things that really broke on 13), but the CO2 scrubbers on the LEMs were not changed since the remaining LEMs were already built and redesigning those scrubber slots would have required rebuilding and retesting.  If an Apollo 13-like disaster were to happen again and they used the LEM as a lifeboat, they had a jerry-rigged fix already on the books.

[lost_in_the_endless_aisle]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

I love that series. My two favorite episodes have to be where the team is taught to be geologists, because that's all they had. These days space travel training is a little easier that a geologist could be brought on board to do the work.  The other is the one that delved into their personal lives and focused on the wives.  It was an eye opener to see how stressful the life was and that nearly every single couple finished the space race in divorce.

I took some upper division geology so I knew a lot of geology professors. The character they had in the show was pretty much spot-on in his demeanor.

The other episode I found particularly good was the one where they spend years designing (and re-re-re-designing) the LEM.

They had the best design and it still more than doubled in budget. Coming up with something revolutionary from scratch isn't cheap.


And those poor squash balls left on the roof...

I suspect the Apollo mission to this date has not been surpassed by any human endeavor in terms of its complexity, time constraint, and success-rate for such a difficult goal relative to the contemporary technology available. I don't think I properly appreciated the accomplishment until the last several years having learned more about the technical details associated with the program and the massive amount of economic coordination that it took to achieve the goal. I remember reading (somewhere?) that the Apollo 11 crew was estimated to have a 10% of dying during the mission. NASA is so risk-averse now that it will never again be great.

[talltexan]

STS (aka Space Shuttle) ran about 120 missions, with only two losses. So...1.7%?

[happy]

I suspect the Apollo mission to this date has not been surpassed by any human endeavor in terms of its complexity, time constraint, and success-rate for such a difficult goal relative to the contemporary technology available. I don't think I properly appreciated the accomplishment until the last several years having learned more about the technical details associated with the program and the massive amount of economic coordination that it took to achieve the goal.

I'm not a space program geek but just from my recollections of how the world was back then, makes me marvel how they did it. Computers and chips existed but were large and cumbersome, although I understand some special smaller computers were handmade for the mission. The computer memory was tiny. Again plastics existed, but not in the dazzling array and complexity of applications that we now are familiar with.  Kevlar was invented in 1965, so I am not sure if Apollo 11 had access to it.

It was an audacious goal, but they did it.

[RetiredAt63]

I suspect the Apollo mission to this date has not been surpassed by any human endeavor in terms of its complexity, time constraint, and success-rate for such a difficult goal relative to the contemporary technology available. I don't think I properly appreciated the accomplishment until the last several years having learned more about the technical details associated with the program and the massive amount of economic coordination that it took to achieve the goal.

I'm not a space program geek but just from my recollections of how the world was back then, makes me marvel how they did it. Computers and chips existed but were large and cumbersome, although I understand some special smaller computers were handmade for the mission. The computer memory was tiny. Again plastics existed, but not in the dazzling array and complexity of applications that we now are familiar with.  Kevlar was invented in 1965, so I am not sure if Apollo 11 had access to it.

It was an audacious goal, but they did it.

If you haven't seen the movie Hidden Figures, go see it.  Most of the calculations were done by women.  It is an eye opener in so many ways.

[partgypsy]

I particularly enjoyed HBO's old miniseries From the Earth to the Moon which focused on Apollo but also covered some of the Gemini stuff.

I love that series. My two favorite episodes have to be where the team is taught to be geologists, because that's all they had. These days space travel training is a little easier that a geologist could be brought on board to do the work.  The other is the one that delved into their personal lives and focused on the wives.  It was an eye opener to see how stressful the life was and that nearly every single couple finished the space race in divorce.

I took some upper division geology so I knew a lot of geology professors. The character they had in the show was pretty much spot-on in his demeanor.

The other episode I found particularly good was the one where they spend years designing (and re-re-re-designing) the LEM.

They had the best design and it still more than doubled in budget. Coming up with something revolutionary from scratch isn't cheap.


And those poor squash balls left on the roof...

Serious tangentially related question about the design of the Lander.... after the Apollo 13 debacle of the incompatibility of the CO2 scrubbers between the Lander and the Command Module, did they redesign them to be a similar shape? No more square pegs in round holes?

No changes were made to Apollo CO2 scrubbers.  They did significant modifications to the O2 tanks and fuel cells on the command module (the things that really broke on 13), but the CO2 scrubbers on the LEMs were not changed since the remaining LEMs were already built and redesigning those scrubber slots would have required rebuilding and retesting.  If an Apollo 13-like disaster were to happen again and they used the LEM as a lifeboat, they had a jerry-rigged fix already on the books.

I need to check out some of those specials but I did watch a special on apollo 13, which was riveting. They ended up removing the stirrers from the fuel tanks and also I believe added additional fuel storage. Those astronauts really had nerves of steel to both learn everything they had to to run those missions, and improvise in those situations where a mistake was truly deadly and you were a hundred thousand miles from help.

I think that's why I enjoyed the "Martian" movie with Matt Damon so much, that is was hard-science based and went into how to problem solve and survive in those environment and resources of extremely narrow margins. 

[Parizade]

If you haven't seen the movie Hidden Figures, go see it.  Most of the calculations were done by women.  It is an eye opener in so many ways.

ALL of the space suits were made by women.
The seamstresses who helped put a man on the moon

I agree, Hidden Figures is a must-see movie. I'll never forget that poor woman having to walk to another building in her high heels just to use the "negro" bathroom when she did so much for the space program. Unbeleivable!

[Cadman]

While this is in no way meant as a detractor to the important message of 'Hidden Figures', it should be realized that a number of artistic liberties were taken to create a compelling on-screen story. For example, Johnson never had to run from building to building to find a bathroom, nor was reprimanded like in the film. But segregated bathrooms and water fountains obviously were ubiquitous in the south during this time, so it makes a powerful rallying point.

The truth is, the majority of primary characters in the movie are composites assembled from different people and stories over many years, sometimes created specifically to amp-up the outrage. Good movie? Yes. But don't bother watching it for technical accuracy.

[Telecaster]

I'm not a space program geek but just from my recollections of how the world was back then, makes me marvel how they did it. Computers and chips existed but were large and cumbersome, although I understand some special smaller computers were handmade for the mission. The computer memory was tiny. Again plastics existed, but not in the dazzling array and complexity of applications that we now are familiar with.  Kevlar was invented in 1965, so I am not sure if Apollo 11 had access to it.

It was an audacious goal, but they did it.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Apollo 13 is where they need to make a calculation, so the engineers all break out their slide rules and then check with each other to see if they all got the same answer. 

[RetiredAt63]

While this is in no way meant as a detractor to the important message of 'Hidden Figures', it should be realized that a number of artistic liberties were taken to create a compelling on-screen story. For example, Johnson never had to run from building to building to find a bathroom, nor was reprimanded like in the film. But segregated bathrooms and water fountains obviously were ubiquitous in the south during this time, so it makes a powerful rallying point.

The truth is, the majority of primary characters in the movie are composites assembled from different people and stories over many years, sometimes created specifically to amp-up the outrage. Good movie? Yes. But don't bother watching it for technical accuracy.

Oh sure, it is a movie.    I was a kid in the 50s in Montreal, so I never saw the overt signs of racism around me, and of course we had Jackie Robinson in Montreal before he moved to the majors, and he was wildly popular.  I am sure there was some racism, because the whole of Western society was racist back then, but it sure wasn't as obvious.  And the racism (right term?) I saw was based mostly on religion and language.

What struck me from the movie, apart from the overt racism like separate drinking fountains, was the none of the women had much power, regardless of skin colour.  The rest was as expected, my Dad had slide rules (I still have one of his) and there were no such thing as electronic calculators - I used a mechanical calculator in my first university stats class (so noisy with 20 in use at once).

[marty998]

I'm not a space program geek but just from my recollections of how the world was back then, makes me marvel how they did it. Computers and chips existed but were large and cumbersome, although I understand some special smaller computers were handmade for the mission. The computer memory was tiny. Again plastics existed, but not in the dazzling array and complexity of applications that we now are familiar with.  Kevlar was invented in 1965, so I am not sure if Apollo 11 had access to it.

It was an audacious goal, but they did it.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Apollo 13 is where they need to make a calculation, so the engineers all break out their slide rules and then check with each other to see if they all got the same answer.

Not like it was rocket science or such >_<

[RetiredAt63]

If you haven't seen the movie Hidden Figures, go see it.  Most of the calculations were done by women.  It is an eye opener in so many ways.

ALL of the space suits were made by women.
The seamstresses who helped put a man on the moon

I agree, Hidden Figures is a must-see movie. I'll never forget that poor woman having to walk to another building in her high heels just to use the "negro" bathroom when she did so much for the space program. Unbeleivable!

I've been thinking about this.
I have been in old university buildings, where the subject concentration was a "Male" subject, where the womens' washrooms were far and few between.  As in, some floors had no women's washroom, because when the building was built, no-one expected any women to be on that floor.  Actually, I look back at the Montreal Olympics (1976), where the lineups for the women's washrooms at the Olympic Stadium were huge, while the men just strolled in and out of theirs.   

So the lack of adequate washroom facilities portrayed in the movie did not impact me nearly as much as other discriminatory aspects did.               

[CowboyAndIndian]

Rocket Men is a recent book I highly recommend. Tells the story of Apollo 8, which was supposed to be an Earth orbiting test flight but was changed to become the first lunar orbiting mission (and the first time humans left Earth's immediate vicinity) with three months notice. 7 months later was Apollo 11. That timeline is absurd.

Thanks for the recommendation. I found it in my library and started on Saturday morning. Could not put it down till I finished it.

Really describes the unrest in American cities during the time. Also shows how much the spouses of the astronauts had to endure.

[talltexan]

Indeed all the difficulties of having a husband who is constantly away for work, together with the scrutiny of living in the public eye.

[Parizade]

If you haven't seen the movie Hidden Figures, go see it.  Most of the calculations were done by women.  It is an eye opener in so many ways.

ALL of the space suits were made by women.
The seamstresses who helped put a man on the moon

I agree, Hidden Figures is a must-see movie. I'll never forget that poor woman having to walk to another building in her high heels just to use the "negro" bathroom when she did so much for the space program. Unbeleivable!

I've been thinking about this.
I have been in old university buildings, where the subject concentration was a "Male" subject, where the womens' washrooms were far and few between.  As in, some floors had no women's washroom, because when the building was built, no-one expected any women to be on that floor.  Actually, I look back at the Montreal Olympics (1976), where the lineups for the women's washrooms at the Olympic Stadium were huge, while the men just strolled in and out of theirs.   

So the lack of adequate washroom facilities portrayed in the movie did not impact me nearly as much as other discriminatory aspects did.             

I think it did for me because it would such a continuous grind. A normal woman would need to use the bathroom 4-5 times during an 8 hour workday (a woman who has given birth vaginally might have to go more often). If she has to walk an extra 10 minutes to get to the nearest bathroom that's 40-50 minutes of her workday just walking to the loo. If she has to walk outside to get to another building add a few minutes to each trip because stepping outside might muss up her professional look, which was extremely important back then and had to be maintained. This leaves her with only 7 hours to do the same amount of work as her male counterparts who have a full 8 hours.

Factor in the old adage that a woman must work twice as hard as a man to be thought half as good and you can see how the bathroom situation gets frustrating pretty quickly. It becomes like the Chinese torture "death by a thousand cuts."

[pecunia]

No cell phones, No personal computers, Most TVs were black and white, and I think despite the improvements in technology that we are less hopeful today.  I think we have a more cynical attitude about exploration and research.  Everything is based on the profit motive.  I think the folks who went through World War 2 and the Great Depression somehow had a greater spark of the fire that ignites the best of humanity.  Look at this portion of the speech by JFK.  Would that "sell" today?

    "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."

They went in Peace for All Mankind.  History will look back at those people who made that possible and judge them as among the best.

[RetiredAt63]

If you haven't seen the movie Hidden Figures, go see it.  Most of the calculations were done by women.  It is an eye opener in so many ways.

ALL of the space suits were made by women.
The seamstresses who helped put a man on the moon

I agree, Hidden Figures is a must-see movie. I'll never forget that poor woman having to walk to another building in her high heels just to use the "negro" bathroom when she did so much for the space program. Unbeleivable!

I've been thinking about this.
I have been in old university buildings, where the subject concentration was a "Male" subject, where the womens' washrooms were far and few between.  As in, some floors had no women's washroom, because when the building was built, no-one expected any women to be on that floor.  Actually, I look back at the Montreal Olympics (1976), where the lineups for the women's washrooms at the Olympic Stadium were huge, while the men just strolled in and out of theirs.   

So the lack of adequate washroom facilities portrayed in the movie did not impact me nearly as much as other discriminatory aspects did.             

I think it did for me because it would such a continuous grind. A normal woman would need to use the bathroom 4-5 times during an 8 hour workday (a woman who has given birth vaginally might have to go more often). If she has to walk an extra 10 minutes to get to the nearest bathroom that's 40-50 minutes of her workday just walking to the loo. If she has to walk outside to get to another building add a few minutes to each trip because stepping outside might muss up her professional look, which was extremely important back then and had to be maintained. This leaves her with only 7 hours to do the same amount of work as her male counterparts who have a full 8 hours.

Factor in the old adage that a woman must work twice as hard as a man to be thought half as good and you can see how the bathroom situation gets frustrating pretty quickly. It becomes like the Chinese torture "death by a thousand cuts."

Oh sure, I got all that - and even though in that old university building I didn't have to go outside, I did have to walk about 10 minutes to get from the library to a washroom.  It's just that everything else hit me that much harder.

[RetiredAt63]

No cell phones, No personal computers, Most TVs were black and white, and I think despite the improvements in technology that we are less hopeful today.  I think we have a more cynical attitude about exploration and research.  Everything is based on the profit motive.  I think the folks who went through World War 2 and the Great Depression somehow had a greater spark of the fire that ignites the best of humanity.  Look at this portion of the speech by JFK.  Would that "sell" today?

    "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."

They went in Peace for All Mankind.  History will look back at those people who made that possible and judge them as among the best.

Um, all the lack of tech?  I lived through that, no TV until I was 6, and it was black and white.  Just like my Dad lived through the electrification of the prairies.  I remember my first computer, my first cell phone, my first digital camera.  Technology has moved so fast in this area.

"My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."  JFK - that was a bit radical then, just think what it would be like today.  I don't know whether it is the politicians or the electorate, but things have changed. (Not dissing Americans, Ontarians managed to elect a mini-Trump as premier.)

[lost_in_the_endless_aisle]

If you're a fan of Brian Eno, this might be of interest. It's on how the Apollo missions inspired his + David Lanois' Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks album. I didn't realize the twang in some of the songs was inspired by the selection of music taken into space by some of the Apollo astronauts (country music). Good footage from the Apollo missions as well.

[Leisured]

Another Australian here. I was 24 at the time of the Moon Landing, and watched it on a B&W TV. it was indeed mesmerising, as another poster said, and I was glad that such excellence was abroad in the world. Our State broadcaster, the ABC, took the feed from the US and for occasional music added 'The Sound of Silence', instrumental version, which I though was a good choice. One clip that the ABC played several times was of the second stage separating from the first stage, with a camera inside the second stage. The first stage fell slowly away, revealing the vast Earth in the background, and the interstage casing also floated away, like a giant serviette ring, its leading edge glowing in the heat from the second stage rockets. A hundred miles up, climbing at a mile and a half a second.

Americans can feel justifiable pride in what they did in July 1969.

[partgypsy]

No cell phones, No personal computers, Most TVs were black and white, and I think despite the improvements in technology that we are less hopeful today.  I think we have a more cynical attitude about exploration and research.  Everything is based on the profit motive.  I think the folks who went through World War 2 and the Great Depression somehow had a greater spark of the fire that ignites the best of humanity.  Look at this portion of the speech by JFK.  Would that "sell" today?

    "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."

They went in Peace for All Mankind.  History will look back at those people who made that possible and judge them as among the best.

Um, all the lack of tech?  I lived through that, no TV until I was 6, and it was black and white.  Just like my Dad lived through the electrification of the prairies.  I remember my first computer, my first cell phone, my first digital camera.  Technology has moved so fast in this area.

"My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."  JFK - that was a bit radical then, just think what it would be like today.  I don't know whether it is the politicians or the electorate, but things have changed. (Not dissing Americans, Ontarians managed to elect a mini-Trump as premier.)

Just have to say, awesome speech. The whole endeavor, makes you proud to be an American.