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I remember a ham & cheese sandwich, with the awful bright yellow mustard that was the only kind available then, and washed down with Hawaiian Punch, a sweet and vaguely fruit-flavored drink widely advertised on TV at that time.
Neil Armstrong was going to step out of the Eagle onto the moon fairly late that summer evening, & my mom thought I ought to eat something. I was 10.
I followed the space program a little like I followed the New York Mets at that time: I memorized all the astronauts’ names, the military services they came from, the Apollo missions they were scheduled to fly (and the missions on which they were to be part of backup crews).
I was a little hyper-focused at that period in my life. Anyway, the Apollo 11 mission was very exciting to me. If you had asked me if it was worth it, I would have told you the moon was there and we could send men to walk on it, so of course we should.
I remember being glued to the black & white television my family owned then from about an hour before Armstrong stepped on the moon until both he and @TheRealBuzz got back into the Eagle after midnight. I’ll not claim my mind never wandered — ....
....it wanders to this day if I sit in one place for an extended period of time — but watching Armstrong and Aldrin made a powerful impression that never left me. I had seen men walk on another world. Of course it should be done again. 50 years ago tonight. #Apollo11
