on July 20, 1969? I was a eleven year-old kid, in Tirrenia, Italy. We had just moved there from Walla Walla, WA when my dad took an assignment with the Corps of Engineers to birddog construction of Corps projects in the Middle East. We did not have a TV. I read about the landing in the Stars and Stripes the next day. I did not see the videotape until weeks later. It has been 40 years. Where has the time gone? It seems like January 20 was 40 years ago...

I was twice your age, and watching it from my apartment in Las Cruces, New Mexico, close to NMSU campus.

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watching it from my apartment in Las Cruces, New Mexico

That is one hot place. I was there a month or so ago. Hot, hot, hot...

My mother and sister live there. I think the whole southwest got scorched this summer.

They complain in Perth about lack of rain, yet it rains every day. It's winter here. The temperature dropped from 55 to 43 in fifteen minutes when a front blew-in yesterday with 106 kph winds. Hail stacked-up about 1/4" deep. Four hours later the temperature was back up to 55.

The old astronauts are in disagreement whether going back to the moon makes any sense. At least one says shoot for Mars, or don't spend the money. The moon sounded impossible then. If we could dream that and make it happen, we could make Mars in our lifetime. We've just got to want it more than a new iPhone.

I was watching TV with just about everyone else at the student center at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, TX. A family friend kept insisting the whole thing was a government hoax.

Stayed up all night watching on a Philco Black and White set ,after having hauled hay all day and knowing I was going to have to go do it again in the AM; wouldn't have missed it .

I was 9 yrs. old visiting relatives near L.A. I recall that it was a very clear night and we alternated between looking up at the moon from their telescope, the swimming pool, and the TV coverage.

At the time my mom's cousin was at JPL. He was on duty that night but had been telling us stories all week about what led up to the moon landing. He also gave us telescopic photos he had taken of where the landing was going on. That made what we were watching even more exciting.

I was 13 and living in the UK........... and was glued but glued to the TV.

Loved every moment of it!

I was 5 ,at home with the family.I tried to stay awake to watch,but didnt make it.Fell asleep in moms lap waiting for someone to come out of the capsule.

I was 12 and living in Bonn Germany. It was a bit after 10PM and other then the voices coming over the airwaves from the astronauts and ground crew it was in German. Thankfully I was fairly fluent at the time. I wouldn't have missed it for the world as Gus Grissom and dad were in flight school together and their first two assignments including Korea. I met him a few times over the years and the last time was shortly before we moved to Germany in late 1966, Apollo 1 burnt up in Jan 1967.

Ken....

Floating on the aircraft carrier Saratoga (CVA-60) somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. I didn't know the moon landing happened until months later. I was in tune to the more normal landings.

Modifying/updating electronic systems on A-4s and P-3s at NAS Alameda.

I was working a 14-hour day as a Director of an 1,150-bed psychiatric hospital in the true-North. Just saw it in passing, when I walked by a room chock full of other staff. They, incidentally, were more impressed by that American achievement than by perhaps anything we have done since.

Thank You to all who replied. Those are some interesting stories. I have not looked back on this since I started the thread. I am always over at the PF; I rarely go anywhere else. I like the rapid responses I get over there.

Reading your stories has helped to understand who some of you are and why you write what you do in your posts. We are quite the diverse bunch, huh? Thanks, again...

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over at the PF; I rarely go anywhere else. I like the rapid responses I get over there.

Reading your stories has helped to understand who some of you are and why you write what you do in your posts. We are quite the diverse bunch, huh? Thanks, again...

Was a newly promoted 1st Lieutenant at Moody AFB, GA.

Ten years old and in the hospital fading in and out; just had my appendix out. ALMOST missed it; boy, would I have cried!

Rick

14 yrs. old at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Idaho. Watched it on a small tv in a big tent.

Chu Lai, RVN

Rich

Fairview, OK. I was on summer break from Stephen F Austin University. Very hot summer working at a propane plant construction site.

It was my 21st birthday, and my dad and I were glued to the tube in the living room, while my mother was stuck in the kitchen with a couple of her visiting elderly bohunk relatives. No amount of 'suggestion' would convince them of the historical significance of the events unfolding that day and to either pay attention or at least 'keep it down'...as Neil Armstrong was exiting the landing module, the old buzzard was telling (in a very loud voice) how he lost his crop of oats to an early frost in 1928, while we were cranking up the volume to hear the TV over him.

For years afterward, my dad and I had an inside joke regarding loud, ignorant obnoxious people, to the effect that "Sounds like his oats froze".

My first wife and I were at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore and the whole staff was glued to the TV. Afterwards the entire city was abuzz with excitement. There was an air of celebration that transcended national boundaries. It truly was a great accomplishment for all mankind.

Rep. of Ireland-10 years old begged my parents to let me stay up to see it. we all sat around watching it,amazing, did not understand its significance then (too young) Shoved straight up to bed within seconds of it being over.

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Chu Lai, RVN

I've heard the weather is most agreeable there in July...

I was 21 and was glued to TV, radio and wireless for all the Apollo missions leading to Apollo 11 since I was (and still am) very keen on the space program.

In Australia, we saw the landing a second or two earlier than Americans The signals from the moon were sent to Australia and then relayed to America.

My biggest disappointment was the Saturn Vs for Apollos 18, 19 and 20 sitting on their side because the rest of the show was canceled.

In the mid 1970s Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan came to Australia on a tour and I was able to organise spending about 30 minutes with him.

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My biggest disappointment was the Saturn Vs for Apollos 18, 19 and 20 sitting on their side because the rest of the show was canceled.

During the Carter Years, right?

Apollo 17 was the last moon mission and that was December 1972. Skylab was the last launch of a Saturn V and and was 1973, in May I think.

So probably Nixon.

Pensacola, FL. I had just started Navy Flight Training first week in July. Everybody I knew stayed up all night watching, so the next day was cancelled!

On which subject. Has anyone out there seen the movie Pontiac Moon starring Ted Danson?

It's got everything. The landing, stunning scenery, great music and some REALLY cool classic cars.