The Apollo 11 Moon Landing: Some of My Memories

The most astounding human achievement (under God's leadership of course) of my lifetime thus far may have been Apollo 11’s successful moon landing on July 20, 1969, 53 years ago today.

It was mankind’s first time on the lunar surface. I was only 11-years-old, a Runyon Elementary School student in Pike County, Kentucky, in the southeastern Kentucky coal fields of Appalachia.

I don’t remember now if I actually watched either the moon landing or Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon live or if I just later watched some of the numerous replays of the momentous moments. But I remember watching much coverage of the Apollo 11 trip.

My Fascination and Speculation

I was fascinated by the Apollo space program. During my elementary school days, I skimmed most if not all of the astronomy books in the Runyon Elementary School library, especially searching for anything that might indicate life on Mars or elsewhere beyond Earth.

The books all indicated life could not exist on other planets in our solar system, at least as we know it, due to lack of water on other planets. But I wondered if maybe as science advanced they’d actually find water somewhere or even life that could exist without water, realizing our knowledge was limited.

I even speculated that maybe we evolved from little green men from Mars who emigrated here as conditions for life deteriorated on Mars. I figured the old stories about little green men from Mars originated from something, and maybe even had some truth to them. Even as an elementary school student, I knew my idea was farfetched.

But decades after Apollo 11, NASA stated liquid water may exist on Mars. In 2020 NASA stated water exists on the moon. The possibility of other life in our solar system exists.

My Newspaper Clippings

I’ve loved to read and write as far back as I can remember. I began reading newspapers at a relatively early age. I even began keeping newspaper clippings on various topics when I was 10-years-old, almost 11 to be more precise. The Apollo space program was a major topic that I clipped them about.

As I recall, dad subscribed to three daily newspapers: The Huntington [West Virginia] Herald-Dispatch, The Louisville [Kentucky] Courier-Journal, and The Williamson [West Virginia] Daily News. The Williamson "daily" paper was published six days a week, Monday-Saturday. The Herald-Dispatch was delivered in the morning, the Courier-Journal arrived in the mail, and the Williamson Daily News was an evening paper delivered in the afternoon, so the three papers arrived at different times.

The photos below are a few about Apollo 11’s moon landing from my first notebook of newspaper clippings. The first photo is of clippings from the Herald-Dispatch. The last two are from the Courier-Journal. The notebook contains many more.

It would have been nice if I’d saved the entire issues of the papers instead of just clippings--and treated them better than taping them on notebook paper. But at least I did save them at age 11.

The Moon Landing’s Significance and Photos and Videos

The moon landing seemed almost miraculous to me. These astronauts were about 240,000 miles away on the moon. But I could see pictures and videos of them on a television screen and hear them speaking with persons on Earth. Modern science (under God’s leadership) managed to design an aircraft to get them there safely with oxygen, food, water, etc. It’s amazing how the logistics were worked out.

You can view online videos of the moon landing, like the one on YouTube linked to here. Online videos like this one on NASA's website show Neil Armstrong taking that first step onto the moon's surface and you can hear his first words from the surface. A NASA montage video shows some highlights of the Apollo 11 mission from liftoff from Earth to the liftoff from the moon.

While many of us in my generation may still consider the moon landing current events, today’s generation may consider it ancient history. Indeed, 1969 now is as far away as 1916 was in 1969. And to me, an 11-year-old, in 1969 the year 1916 seemed long, long ago.

The first landing of mankind on the moon in 1969 attracted much international attention. In a sense it united the world I think, much as an Olympic sporting event maybe sometimes can. Here in the United States, for a while at least, Apollo 11 knocked the ongoing Vietnam War out of the news headlines.

I cherish wonderful memories of Apollo 11 and of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon, as well as his first words after stepping onto the lunar surface, “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.“