Spotlight
Final USAF Delta II Lifts Off August 17
The final Delta II launch for the U.S. Air Force sent a Global Positioning System (GPS) spacecraft toward its orbit early Aug. 17, capping a 48-mission series of flights with the Boeing-developed rocket. Liftoff came at 6:35 a.m. EDT from launch complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The new satellite was the…
Apollo 11 Stories: Hope, Inspiration, Awe and Pride
During July, the Space Foundation asked our Space Watch readers, staff members, friends, and colleagues to tell us where they were on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon (Crewmate Michael Collins piloted the Command Module during the historic mission). We were overwhelmed…
Apollo 11 Recollections #1
Inspiration Didn’t Require Observation Well at that time, I wasn’t born yet, but I was inspired when I first heard it when I was nine years old. My parents were in the Philippines when that special amazing event happened. – Christopher Adan G.Calubaquib, Jr. Will Always Remember Parents’ Excitement All the neighbor kids were outside…
Apollo 11 Recollections #2
The Sadness Disappeared I was in 2nd grade in Longview, Texas. It was a tumultous time because my dad was a purchaser for Lone Star Steel and they were on strike. He crossed the picket line everyday and there were shootings and even a couple of deaths. My mom was pregnant (an oops!) with my…
Apollo 11 Recollections #3
A Moment in Time I will Never Forget My girl friend (my wife now of 38 years) and I were at our friends’ apartment sitting by the TV waiting for Neil to step out. It was amazing. When he put his foot on the moon and said, “that’s one small step for man, and one…
Apollo 11 Recollections #4
A Special Treat Years Later at the National Space Symposium I was a new Coast Guard ensign on liberty from my ship. We watched TV in my parents’ living room. My fiancée and I lounged on pillows on the floor, with my father and sisters to the left on the couch, mother behind in her…
Apollo 11 Recollections #5
I Understood it was Something Important I was eight. At home. The TV was black and white (and you actually had to get off the couch to change the channel). The memory is clear in my mind so I guess I understood it was something important, but it probably wasn’t until a few years later…
Apollo 11 Recollections #6
Expected with Certainty, and Welcomed with Eager Anticipation In the summer of 1969, the summer I turned 18, I shared with millions of people the experience of watching a live transmission of a human being walking on the moon. A few days before that I shared an equally momentous experience with a much smaller percentage…
Apollo 11 Recollections #7
Year of Moonmen and Mets! Growing up, I went to camp every year in the Pocono Mountains during July. No television, just fresh air and swimming and lots of activities. In 1969, I was 13, and on July 20 of that year, the camp took the extraordinary measure of setting up a black and white…
Apollo 11 Recollections #8
You Could Feel the Electricity I was sitting in the Butternut Room which was a fancy library with floor-to-ceiling book shelves and lots of wood everywhere at Allerton House in Monticello, Ill. I was a sophomore in college (University of Illinois) and that summer I was fortunate enough to be a live-in camp counselor at…