I sat in my room on a warm night on July 20, 1969 along with millions of breathless people around the world. My parents had installed a portable black and white television in my room so I could watch this historic event. The United States had fulfilled the challenge made almost a decade earlier to put a man on the moon and I would get to watch it!
Mom and Dad were very wrong! After all, we watched the Saturn V rocket take off and listened to Jules Bergman describe what was happening as 20th century graphics played on the TV. We heard the phrase “The Eagle has landed!” Mom was a dedicated space junkie since John Glenn orbited Earth. That was the story I heard. Now, I was determined to watch this thing to the end.
Why was I in my room? The moonwalk was scheduled for around 11:00 pm and my parents thought I’d be asleep before Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon, green cheese or not! After all, my two sisters fell asleep on the floor and I was not known as a night owl.
Well, I got ready for bed and Dad fumbled around with the rabbit ears antenna and aluminum foil until he got a decent picture on the set. The sound was a bit static-y, but I could sort of make out the commentators. I only remember Jules Bergman, probably because he was Mom’s hero.
Admittedly, I likely dozed off so whether it was providence, kismet or my dad knocking on the bedroom door, I woke up in time to see an astronaut climb down a ladder. I heard the now iconic phrase,”It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. You can listen to those words here
I fell asleep soon after that, but it was a glorious sleep because I saw history being made. That Sunday created one of my first memories, as those events often do. When I look back on the Apollo missions these days, it’s through students’ eyes and I marvel at the sheer bravery of those three men, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, as they climbed into what amounted to a hydrogen bomb and took off into the clouds. As boosters fell to Earth, they ended up in something akin to a tin can eight days later. They landed in the ocean in the tin can as well. My kids are amazed anyone would do that, but they come from a world of space shuttles, telescopes giving us spectacular views of space and unmanned missions to faraway planets. Sigh!
It’s a pretty good bet that I’m older than most of you and the kid in me never got over the thrill of space exploration, so I hope you follow these links and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this ground-breaking event with your students. Maybe you’ll inspire the next great explorer! Let us know in the comments how it goes! We love hearing your stories!
This site is a must view! It contains audio, video and photos of Apollo 11 as well as other Apollo missions. All grade levels will love it and you can see what I saw that night so long ago!
A comprehensive list of all activities happening to honor the 50th anniversary.
The National Education Association has a list of activities that are easily set up and teach students of all grade levels different concepts of the lunar surface. There is a game, We Choose The Moon, that allows students to choose a landing place for a spacecraft. It does require Flash, though.
Visit this extraordinary site to photos recording all aspects of the mission.
Another site from the NEA that has a very comprehensive list of activities to learn about Apollo 11, background resources, interactive, oral histories, a 3D moon globe and even a NOVA special with Neil Armstrong! This is a short list of all the information you can access. I’d go here first.
Don’t forget books about Neil Armstrong, Katherine Robinson,and the rest of the people who made this gargantuan effort possible. There are too many good picture books and YA books to mention!
Happy exploring!