Reader comments
Let's hear what you remember about the moon landing

148 comments   |   Read story

Frank Randall | 8:19 p.m. July 5, 2009
I was on a trip with my family to Northern Idaho, where may oldest son was attending a huge scout jamboree. We listened to the moon landing on the car radio and were we ever excited. We were so proud of our country that day. Why has it been all those years since the last landing and we haven't gone back?
sewcrazy61 | 8:33 p.m. July 5, 2009
I was being trying to sneek a peek at the TV coverage at my babysitters house. I could not understand why we had to go to bed, when something so exciting was happing to all of us. But I do remember via the snow filled TV set the landing just like it was yesterday even though I was only able to view it thru a crack in a door.
Steve Staker - Provo | 8:34 p.m. July 5, 2009
We sat around our old black and white television and watched the whole thing. I had just celebrated my twelveth birthday and my burning question for my parents was: "Okay, now when are we going to go to Mars?" I never thought that forty years would come and go with no visit to another planet.
Comments continue below
award winning film | 8:41 p.m. July 5, 2009
I was told at the tender age of ten that the moon landing was filmed in Hollywood.
Anonymous | 9:14 p.m. July 5, 2009
I remember this time as the Zenith of American Culture. My father, with one job, could raise his family comfortably. This was when America over came challenges and didn't while: it will never work. We believed in the values of science and technologies. We valued fairness, intellectualism, education and tried to become elite at what ever we tried.

American business once cared about America. This was before greed and the god almighty profit outsourced American jobs, justified by bottom lines. American had pensions, health care and they were valued as employees.

Communities were like villages were people felt they had ownership in a common future.

Stores were an extension of the village and e coli was unheard of, as was streets full of homeless or people hawking their lives on corners trying to survive.
Almost a tot | 11:16 p.m. July 5, 2009
I was age 4 1/2 in July 1969. One of my earliest memories is of my parents sitting me down in front of the black and white television and telling me to watch men landing on the moon.

I remember them emphasizing for me to remember this day because it was such a historic event: the first time that any human being had stepped onto another world besides our own.

I also recall over the next few years as more Apollo missions returned to the moon in the early 1970s. There was NOTHING America could not do, and there was no one else in the world that could do the things that America was doing.

Oh how times have changed. America is in decline, we are no longer the envy of the world, and the N. Koreans are firing ballistic missiles on our Independence Day, flaunting the fact that we cannot stop them from ignoring our warnings.

India and China are mocking our economy, and own more of America than America does. There are still some things that are great about America but the gap has narrowed - soon we won't be the only superpower.

mom bouch | 12:15 a.m. July 6, 2009
je m'en souviens car j'avais dix ans et je revois dans ma mémoire que cette journée la j'étais devant le téléviseur,je voyais une personne descendre du lem et les images etaient floues.aujourd'hui il y a un seul nom qui est dans mon cerveau c,est neil armstrong le premier homme qui a foulé le sol lunaire. Enter comment Entrez un commentaire
Scott S. Heiner | 12:48 a.m. July 6, 2009
I was 17 years old attending the 1969 National Scout Jamboree near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, walking with a couple of other boys from our troop down a wide lane with exciting exhibits on either side. Suddenly we noticed up ahead a big crowd of people straining to see something. We hurried over to find everyone watching a large TV, and Neil Armstrong was just climbing down the stairs of the Lunar Lander. We watched in awe as he took his first historic step. We were really lucky to be there at the exact right time and returned to our camp to brag about what we had just witnessed.

At the end of the Jamboree at a campfire program attended by some 20,000 Scouts, we heard a greeting from Eagle Scout Neil Armstrong beamed down live to us from the moon.

It was an event I'll never forget: both the Moon landing and the Jamboree.
Inspired | 2:21 a.m. July 6, 2009
I was 10, I watched the whole Apollo 11 mission incessantly and was inspired to study and aim high. Kids back then wanted to be astronauts. It was an event that united the whole world because we saw pictures of people watching TV's in various countries around the world. It was a rare moment in human history where we all watched and hoped for the same thing.

I have to disagree with "Anonymous" because the moon landing was a rare positive event with all the turmoil of the assassinations in '68, Vietnam War, Cold War, etc., it was not an idyllic time for our country. Look up ITT from the period and you will see an example of rampant corporate greed.

I think that is precisely why we enjoyed the moment so much - it came in the midst of a lot of crises.
anonymous | 7:22 a.m. July 6, 2009
I was 13 and on my way home from a camping trip in McCall, Idaho. Our group listened to it on the car radio and I remember Neil Armstrongs famous statement as if it were yesterday. I couldn't wait to get home and watch it on television.
A Rexburg Summer | 7:39 a.m. July 6, 2009
I was nineteen and living in the dorms at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho while learing the Norwegian language in preparation for a mission to Norway. There were other young men and women there learning Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Finnish as well as Norwegian. On July 20th we received permission to watch the televised moon landing and subsequent moon walk. I had a Polaroid Camera with black and white instant film that captured two great photos as Niel Armstrong stepped out of the lunar lander onto the surface of the moon. Happy to send them to you if you are interested.
Jeff Anderson | 7:44 a.m. July 6, 2009
Astronauts and anything to do with space was my childhood obsession. When JFK said we were actually going to the moon I believed him. As the Apollo program prepared to land the first man on the moon, I was determined to enjoy every part of it. I soaked up stories and photos from Life Magazine and even built my own Apollo model. As each Apollo mission came closer and closer to the actual landing it only magnified the excitement and anticipation. So where was I when Apollo 11 landed on the moon? I was at Scout Camp. There was no TV and I was going to miss seeing the greatest achievement in the history of mankind. I was not a happy camper until someone hooked up a radio around the outside mess area. About 100 scouts and leaders gathered around to listen to history being made. I remember listening to Walter Cronkite and mission specialists describe each and every detail as it happened. When I heard Neil Armstrong say his immortal words upon stepping on the moon, it could not have been any more exciting or real to me if I had seen it on TV that day.
L | 7:58 a.m. July 6, 2009
Yes, I remember ! We lived in Ohio and we had just sanded and refinished our hardwood floors. Everything had been moved to the basement & in that crowded space of stacked boxes & furniture, we sat on the edge of the bed and that event became part of our history as well.
DJWelker SLC< UT | 8:59 a.m. July 6, 2009
Summer Music Theater-SIU-Carbondale,IL-The Unsinkable Molly Brown

The performance was interrupted- black and white TVs were rolled on to the stage.
Performers and audience watched one of the greatest moments of our lives.
Joe | 9:11 a.m. July 6, 2009
I was living in London at the time of the first moon landing. Where ever I went for the next few weeks, people would convey their congratulations to America for this accomplishment to me. I realized this was something big, as the English rarely had anything good to say about America during this "Vietnam Era" of our history. They were particularly tickled that we had beat the Russians there first.
Loodie | 9:21 a.m. July 6, 2009
My father worked for NASA at that time so anything and everything to do with space was a big deal to our family. We watched everything from beginning to end. He used to bring home mockups of the capsules for us to play in. We were all glued to our TV for the moon landing. Yes, my dad was a rocket scientist!
Mike Walters Los Alamos NM | 10:09 a.m. July 6, 2009
I had received my draft notice a few days earlier. Some friends and I went water skiing. We returned to one of the girls homes where we watched the grainy black and white television coverage. I remember thinking what a great achievement this was.
TucsonUte | 10:22 a.m. July 6, 2009
I remember my mother getting my siblings and myself out of bed to allow us watch it on TV. Because I was only 4 1/2 yrs old at time I didn't realize what a big deal it was for mankind (partly because of my age and also because I thought that people had always been traveling to the moon). But it is one of my earliest childhood memories.
Desert Rat | 11:21 a.m. July 6, 2009
I was 16, and the proud new holder of a drivers license. It was a hot summer night and I passed up a date with a cute girl in order to sit in front of our black and white television, the one that had to be whacked periodically to stop the picture from flipping, and enjoy coverage of that great moment in history.
Bobbi Deere, Alpine Utah | 12:11 p.m. July 6, 2009
I lived in Mississippi in 1969, and remember July 20 only because Mom made my big sister and I come in from playing to watch this "historic moment".

We sat in the living room around the black and white tv console and whined about having to stop our game, only to watch some men in weird white suits walk on the moon. So unfair!

After a quick lecture with statements like "your kids will read about this in history books" and "you'll remember this all your life", we were finally allowed to go outside and play again. Sheesh! That took forever!

At age 5 I was unimpressed, but at age 45 I am so grateful that Mom made us come in to witness that great day in our nation's history.
John in West Jordan | 1:18 p.m. July 6, 2009
I had just turned 13 and I remember watching our small black and white TV with trememdous interest for I felt this was a momentous historical event. I played with the rabbit ears several times to try and clear up the "snow" in the background and see Neil Armstrong better. I was only 18" from the screen trying to make out every detail. I was elated as the puff of dust kicked up upon the astronauts steps. It was hard to sleep that night as I pictured myself doing the same thing. I wanted to walk on the moon too! As a new teenager, I pictured a city on the moon and being able to travel there as a tourist 20 years out. It's sad to think that only 12 men ever did walk on the moon over these 40 years.
Bruce Worthen | 1:55 p.m. July 6, 2009
I had intense interest in the space program from the time I was a little boy. I listened to the moon landing (the video wasn't shown live) and was a little disappointed that the first words from the moon were simply "The Eagle has landed". When Armstrong stepped out onto the moon's surface a few hours later and said "That's one small step for (a) man - one giant leap for mankind" it seemed to match the moment. I haven't seen anything since that has generated such wonder and excitement. It was like being present for the discovery of the New World. I went on to work for NASA for a short time and was working there when the final moon landing took place. Maybe one day we will recapture that spirit.

Bruce Worthen
Salt Lake City
Ron Richey | 3:12 p.m. July 6, 2009
I was seven years old, and I remember sitting around the dinner table after watching the historic event. My dad simply said, "Well, I guess we're now knocking on God's back door."


Ron Richey
Mapleton
Sharon Marcyes | 3:54 p.m. July 6, 2009
We had just gotten married in Elko and were on our way home to Utah when the radio began the final minutes before the moon landing. We stopped at the first motel we saw and ran in and asked if we could watch it on TV in one of the rooms. The motel manager invited us right into their living room to watch it with him and his family. What a memory and the anniversary date is easy to remember!
Steven Krolak | 4:16 p.m. July 6, 2009
We were on a family vacation and had just finished touring the Smithsonian in Washington, DC where we were surrounded by the past history of aviation. A huge screen had been set up for all to watch history being made. I remember thinking my world will be very different from the world my parents grew up in. In many ways it is, yet in many other ways it's all the same.

I had high hopes that my children would grow up in an age where we would be past much of the pettiness we’re still hung up over. The moon landing was to have been a stepping stone into the future. I feel saddened that thus far it is only a footnote about our past accomplishments. It reminds me that we need more.

The side benefits that came to us from our quest for the moon are staggering, yet they were never the original intention, only the side-product. I think we need a new quest of this scale again now!

Without a significant challenge to improve and reach beyond our current status quo I fear that we as a society will atrophy and pass away.
Steve Corbett, Lubbock, TX | 4:46 p.m. July 6, 2009
I was serving a mission for my church in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. It was actually two days later that I heard about it. I remember that many people in El Salvador thought it wasn't true; that the U.S. has staged it, like a Hollywood movie.

Ted Larsen,Pleasant Grove,UT | 5:46 p.m. July 6, 2009
I had finished my Junior year in High School. My folks had a color TV, but when we went in to watch the landing, it was in black and white, and not too good quality.What to expect for a signal half million miles away or so. When they left the moon, we all went back to our daily routine. We had beaten the Russians to the Moon, but still had the war in VietNam to see on the news every night.
Dar vZijl | 7:28 p.m. July 6, 2009
T'was my baby daughters 12 TH. Birthday, such a joyous day it was to celebrate 2 specials.
Something she will never ever forget.
TV Stations were awsome to watch the 1st man [Mr.Armstrong] walk on that moon and insert the USA Flag. Hooray.
On July 20,2009, she will be celebrating 4 generation.
Another luck day was that she was born on her fathers birthday. July 20.
Linda, Oregon | 8:04 p.m. July 6, 2009
I was 8 years old and our parents let us 7 kids stay up late and watch the old Zenith black and white in our basement. I remember being bored at how long it took Neil Armstrong to climb down the ladder. Then my Dad said we could all have root beer because it was a great day to celebrate. I was happier about the root beer than the moon landing.
Cil Kenyon (Davis) | 11:56 p.m. July 6, 2009
I had just graduated from college. I remember being with my family at home laying on the floor in front of the TV. As I was watching, I saw a shadow as the flag was being placed and I gasped out loud thinking someone else was there too. My father laughed and laughed !!!! It was like it was only a couple of years ago.
wer | 12:14 a.m. July 7, 2009
I was working in Jackson Hole, WY where TV signals were difficult to receive. IN the national park, several of us sat around a B/W TV set barely able to see the images from space.

It was amazing that this enormous feat could be accomplished in space when we had a challenge just to watch it.
Better space & better education | 6:37 a.m. July 7, 2009
Its amazing to me that human beings could put together a project such as that, it was an inspiration.

However now that we have "been there done that" the inspirational value of manned space flight is mostly passed, who is inspired by manned flight cross country or across the ocean anymore?

Given this it would be preferable to spend our space money on projects that will bring more return. Greater telescopes than the hubble or its replacement, robots that will virtually take us places cheaper and safer than sending a man there. We can get all the benefit without the expense and the risk by sending robots.

The money we save would be better spent on math and science education, which in the United States is substandard and at lower levels than in comparable countries in the rest of the world. We used to have top notch math and science education, but it has gone downhill over the past few decades.
Carol, Fort Worth, TX | 6:56 a.m. July 7, 2009
We lived in El Paso, TX. Dad was cooking on the grill and he brought the T.V. outside. We were playing and having a good time. Dad called us over to watch. I will always remember how "cool" it was to see him step on the moon surface.
Joyce | 6:56 a.m. July 7, 2009
I was at my parents house, watching the landing. When it was over my Mother said, " I watched the first airplanes fly and now I am watching Man walking on the moon". I thought to myself she had seen alot of change in her life time. We starting talking about it. I still wonder if I would be able to make and see that many changes in my life time and still move forward with hope.
Angela | 8:30 a.m. July 7, 2009
I was 9, and we were celebrating my oldest brother's 18th birthday. We all sat around that old black and white TV. No one talked, we just stared. Our family had just returned from spending three years in Japan, so we had been completely out of the loop with world events (it was still a third-world country then and we received very little outside news). We were used to not knowing about what was happening, but putting men on the moon was more astonishing than anything we could imagine. I'll never forget my father's tears. He had fought in World War II, had grown up in poverty in the depression, and now was feeling such tremendous pride in our country. It was an awesome day. He wanted us all to remember it, so he took a few moments and expressed his love and gratitude for living in this country.
Jan, Fort Worth | 8:50 a.m. July 7, 2009
I was 17. My parents refused to have a T.V. in the house so my boyfriend's parents invited us over to watch the moonlanding. We sat in the dark living room watching, watching silently. The irony was that my father worked for Vought Corp. building rockets that put satellites into orbit. Space, rocketry , science and science fiction was an unquestioned part of my life. I knew we would have moon colonies, and visit the outer planets. My father's generation of visionaries is passing away; the visions have changed; the world has grown smaller. I used to believe humanity would colonize the stars before we destroyed our homeworld. Now I am not so sure.
David E. Kamerath | 9:23 a.m. July 7, 2009
Moon Landing, 1969

July 20th, 1969 was hot and miserable in the rice paddies and murky canals along the Mekong River in Dinh Tuong Province, South Vietnam. I was on a combat mission with an infantry security force consisting mostly of Vietnamese Regional Forces. I halted the patrol long enough to press a small Sony battery powered radio to my ear and listened to the first lunar landing. I was so very proud at that moment and I wondered at the beauty of such an accomplishment. For me, that was an exciting and an encouraging event. In the midst of the heat and misery of a combat patrol, I was hearing one of the most significant events to date in modern history. I was so very proud then, as I am now of the privilege it is to be an American citizen.
NOTE: The attached photograph was taken at about the same time and place, but was probably not the same day as the lunar landing. (Photo could not be attached).

David E. Kamerath
Salt Lake City, UT
(cell: 801-971-1363)
Gordon, Murray | 9:32 a.m. July 7, 2009
I was serving my mission in Matsuyama, Japan at the time, and being a dyed-in-the-wool "space-freak", I was disappointed to not be able to see the film until much later. I was able to listen to the radio broadcast and remember the feeling of awe and pride that we were able to accomplish such a feat. I've never been able to look at the moon since without that same sense of awe, knowing that man has walked there.
Snowman50 | 10:27 a.m. July 7, 2009
If we hurried home from Church we would be able to see it. We got home just in time. It was breathtaking. My family of 9 all huddled around the TV, no one speaking, just watching in awe and wonderment. That night we went out and looked at the moon and we were dumstruck by the fact that men were on the moon, maybe even looking down at us.
Charmayne | 10:54 a.m. July 7, 2009
I was lounging in a park in Baker, Oregon with my hippie friends, (one of whom was a disc jockey and actually paid attention to the news)listening to the account on a small radio. I remember looking up at the sky and being amazed that all that activity was going on up there.
Bob Riding, San Diego | 11:05 a.m. July 7, 2009
I was a young Marine officer and was in a hospital bed and attached to an IV in the Navy hospital, DaNang, Vietnam and watched the entire thing on TV!! It was so surreal to be in a foreign country, in the middle of a war, and have the opportunity to see this extraordinary event because I happened to be hospitalized at the time. I'll always be grateful for the infection in my leg (that healed rapidly) that got me medivaced out of the bush and back to more secure surroundings to witness the moon landing.
Ken | 11:23 a.m. July 7, 2009
It was wet, cold and slimy and I had a bunch of people staring at me so I started to cry... No seriously... I was born on this exact day. My mom wanted to name me Neil, my dad wanted Buzz... So they named me Ken. Go figure...

Thanks to all who wrote their memories above. I love hearing about and reading about the events of July 20th, 1969 as well as all the Apollo missions.
jsy  | 2:40 p.m. July 7, 2009
I remember being at my grandparents house in Spanish Fork I was 7 and their TV was not working so we went 'down the lane' to the neighbors house to watch the events unfold and I still remember the words and the images and remember being very proud and my parents saying remember this day and here you were someday someone will ask you where you were when historic events happened they talked about pearl harbor, VJ day and the Kennedy killings .
Margie Morton | 4:30 p.m. July 7, 2009
I was feeding my second son who was born May 29th, 1969 and was NOT sleeping all night. It's a memory of special times now that he is 40.
chuckles55 | 8:06 p.m. July 7, 2009
Betsy and I had been married for a little over a month and were living in an apartment in Salt Lake City. We sat together and watched as Neil Armstrong hopped down the rungs of the ladder and proclaimed his famous "one small step for man, one large step for mankind". After Russia had beat us with Sputnik, I was very proud that we got to the moon before they did. Too bad we didn't have VCR's or DVR's back then. It would be fun to have the original action as we viewed it back then.
Chuck Lambert, Pleasant Grove.
chuckles55 | 8:08 p.m. July 7, 2009
I misquoted. Should have been "One small step for man, one giant step for mankind".
daveday | 11:09 p.m. July 7, 2009
As I watched the moon landing, I immediately called my father who was born the same year as the first heavier than air flight by the Wright Bros. I reflected on how far technology had gone in the 65+ years. Of course, I am typing this on a laptop that has more computing power that the entire landing program. What will my son see?
Alan | 1:41 a.m. July 8, 2009
I was 7 and watched it with my mother on our black and white TV.
Sammy Davis | 4:51 a.m. July 8, 2009
Afterward I walked outside to see the moon. I don't remember if I did, but it was a surreal time. To think men were actually walking on it's surface. We may of peaked that year. We have come so far, but we still have the same problems we faced back then. Some circumstances are changed, but mankind hasn't.
jamhc47, draper | 6:31 a.m. July 8, 2009
I was working in the traffic department at KSL TV. They kept changing the moon walk schedule by minutes and then I'd have to walk to the studio from my house to rewrite everything. I kept thinking that it wouldn't happen. I was at the studio when it did and it was an amazing thing to watch. Surreal at the time. Now it's almost commonplace to think of men in space.

Add your comment

Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.

Words Remaining

E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.

Related content
previousnext

Latest comments

And what was the percentage increase by gays in hate crimes against Mormons...

RSL defied doubters to win title

You're right, it seems like 8:12 is wound a little too tight at the moment....

Who has ever tried to "deny religious rights afforded in the Constitution"?...

Expect epic clash on the line

TCU will get into a big money bowl game this season and ewetah has been to...

I am so proud of Donny to keep up with the pro. The body may be not extend...

Tex: This article shows up on Utes sports and the TDS sports so you get off...

Poster at 8:27, the only thing missing from your comment is maybe another...

RSL's Russell left exposed

hopefully they take russell he is one of the laziest defenders i have ever...

Letters: 2 grumpy old men

What about those who do not choose to have health care? How about those who...

If BYU wishes to tone down the rivalry, perhaps they should start with...

Advertisements