What did everyday people think of the Apollo 11 moon landing a half century ago? What did media coverage sound like – as it happened? Using audio recordings he made as a teenager, Bob Smith takes you on a sonic journey back to July 20, 1969.
On the 50th anniversary of man’s first moon landing, Bob Smith presents an audio documentary of the Apollo 11 mission, featuring recordings he made as a 17 year old in 1969. Audio includes comments by friends and family, network news casts covering preparations, clips of the top pop songs playing that week, then Cape Kennedy’s countdown, the Saturn 5 lift off, and coverage of the three day tripos there and back. Along the way Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin speak from the lunar surface, as their colleague Mike Collins orbits the moon, awaiting their return to Apollo 11’s Command Module. The program ends with splashdown, tickertape parades and follow up commentary.
Outline
Moon landing and interplanetary travel 50 years ago.
- “If you were alive 50 years ago this summer, you remember how everyone was talking about men landing on the moon. It was the culmination of more than 20 us space flights over nine years flight spanning three presidential administrations from John F. Kennedy to Richard Nixon. And it was truly a shared experience.
- “Everywhere everyone was talking about the moon, what they thought we’d find what we might bring home, and what the moon would mean to the future of life on Earth.
- “That summer, I was a 17 year old who just graduated from high school. I made plans to capture audio of the landing and exploration from television and radio. But I also captured observations, thoughts and predictions of everyday people, people who were very close to me.
- “I’ve kept those recordings for half a century and thought it might be interesting to share some of them with you on this anniversary. They represent a microcosm of what Americans were thinking as their country pursued the greatest adventure ever attempted landing human beings on another celestial body.”
- Bob plays highlights from interviews with friends and family – face-to-face & via telephone.
- Bob’s father, a World War II veteran, put the existential danger into simple words: “All that thing has to do is tip over, and they’re done. In 24 or 48 hours, they run out of oxygen, and there they are beside the American flag.”
July 16, 1969 – Mission launches a new era.
- The countdown rolls, engines ignite, and Apollo 11’s Saturn 5 rocket roars to life.
- Even at 25,000 miles per hour, the astronauts’ trip to the moon takes three days.
- Daily bulletins reflect the astronaut’s progress.
July 20, 1969 – No one on earth saw the landing.
- “We’ve all seen the shadowy images of the touching down synchronized to the astronaut’s words. But that was film developed after the crew returned home. NASA didn’t turn on TV cameras till the first moonwalk – hours later.”
- “Everyone at Mission Control, and everyone on Earth on July 20, 1969, followed the landing like you will now — listening to audio-only and imagining what it looked like.”
- Neil Armstrong makes history as first man to step on the moon.
- “That’s one small step for a man …” recorded from Mutual Radio Network broadcast.
- Both astronauts describe the lunar surface, while lifting objects with little difficulty.
Mission success and challenges.
- After collecting rock samples, Armstrong and Aldrin lift off the following day, to rejoin Michael Collins in the orbiting command module.
- Apollo 11 splashes down on earth three days later, on July 24, 1969.
- Dedicated men met a challenge, achieving a goal set in 1961, returning safely five months and 11 days early.
Past events and lost loved ones.
- 50 years later, Smith reflects on the Apollo 11 mission, and on family voices who’ve since been lost.
Bob Smith 0:00
50 years ago, Americans landed on the moon. And we’ve been watching documentaries with former astronauts, scientists and engineers who worked on that great mission. But what did regular people living at the time have to say about it? That’s coming up today on the off ramp with Bob Smith.
Welcome to the off ramp, a place to slow down, steer clear of crazy and get some perspective on life. I’m Bob Smith,
Unknown Speaker 0:58
at 9:32am. Eastern
Speaker 1 1:00
time. That huge 36 storey high launch vehicle is scheduled to Thunder the life of pushing the astronauts into temporary orbit around the Earth. Two and a half hours later, another rocket burn will send the spacecraft on its way to the moon.
Bob Smith 1:16
If you were alive 50 years ago this summer, you remember how everyone was talking about men landing on the moon. It was the culmination of more than 20 us space flights over nine years flight spanning three presidential administrations from John F. Kennedy to Richard Nixon. And it was truly a shared experience. Everywhere everyone was talking about the moon, what they thought we’d find what we might bring home, and what the moon would mean to the future of life on Earth. That summer, I was a 17 year old who just graduated from high school. And I asked those questions of the people surrounding me. I was fascinated by the Apollo 11 mission. And I made plans to capture audio of the landing and exploration from television and radio. But I also captured observations, thoughts and predictions of everyday people, people who were very close to me. I’ve kept those recordings for half a century, and thought it might be interesting to share some of them with you on this anniversary. They represent a microcosm of what Americans were thinking as their country pursued the greatest adventure ever attempted landing human beings on another celestial body. Unlike today’s documentaries, with former astronauts, scientists and engineers who worked on the program, my interviewees were family, relatives and friends, starting with my sister, Susan, mother, Nancy, and father, Robert Smith.
Speaker 2 2:45
Do you envision yourself taking a trip to the moon or another planet within the next, let’s say 30 years?
Unknown Speaker 2:52
No,
Unknown Speaker 2:53
not in the next 30 years?
Unknown Speaker 2:54
How long? Do you think it’ll be?
Unknown Speaker 2:56
100?
Speaker 2 2:58
What do you think of interplanetary space travel in the next part of this century?
Unknown Speaker 3:03
I don’t believe there will be any,
Speaker 2 3:05
do you think they’ll ever be any commercial flights of a passenger spaceship to other planets in the future at all?
Speaker 3 3:11
If there is, I don’t mean to live the set or me there? I don’t think there’s any people on the moon. I don’t think that find any life on the moon realize, like human. I don’t think you can live up there alone.
Speaker 2 3:28
What do you think about the future of interplanetary space travel in this last part next part of the century? I can’t see any
Speaker 3 3:35
reason for anybody who wants to go there and come back. After we explored it, there’s nothing there. Why would anybody want to go there for vacation? I don’t think so.
Speaker 2 3:47
Would you? Do you think the Apollo 11 astronauts will find any life at all? On the moon? Maybe you plant? You think there might be some plants, maybe anything else? Rocks?
Unknown Speaker 4:00
No peoples in Mars. There are though.
Bob Smith 4:05
Amazingly, my 16 and 17 year old friends gave me the most lucid scientific responses to my questions. Michael Jefferson, Janet strange and Frank Kitchel are all near 70 Now, but 50 years ago, they were teenagers. Do you think
Speaker 2 4:21
the astronauts will find any life at all on the moon? Well,
Speaker 4 4:24
I think it would be very improbable because of the let me see the way the Moon was formed. And since there’s no atmosphere and it’s such rough terrain, and other things, I don’t think there would be any form of life as we know it. What
Speaker 2 4:40
do you think of the future of interplanetary space travel that is travel between Earth and other planets within the last part of the century?
Speaker 5 4:48
Well, I think of remake to the moon I think it’s definitely, definitely a good chance that we do have interplanetary travel. What is it going to be like, right?
Speaker 4 4:58
Just big Check of dirt. They’re just gonna win and they’re fine. You know, pick up the rocks and take off again, I don’t think they’ll find any life at all.
Speaker 2 5:10
Do you think there’ll be some commercial flights in the next part of this century?
Speaker 4 5:14
Unless they find some rare chemical rock? I don’t think there’ll be any commercial finance, as you say that, you know, they’ll exporting or anything like that. And interplanetary travel being a solar system. To the point they’ll have that, but I don’t think as far as going to another solar system, I don’t think they’ll ever make it with rocket ships. And then I’m gonna make it.
Speaker 2 5:37
How do you see the future of interplanetary space travel within this last part of this century? Well, I
Speaker 4 5:43
think within the next 20 years, we’ll see trips to the moon every day. And then that will be just one of the main basis to more interplanetary travel, instead of taking off from the earth, we just shuttle to the moon and therefore we can travel to many other places without as much rocket fuel and other things which we need so much on Earth to get away from the gravitational pool.
Bob Smith 6:06
But it was my father, a world war two veteran who put the existential danger of the moon mission into simple words. I am
Speaker 3 6:15
not even more serious my life but I’m afraid to tell us put some money but get killed. It can happen very easily all that thing has to do is tip over and they’re done. I think it’s 24 or 48 hours and you run out of oxygen and there they are. Besides American flag 10
Speaker 1 6:36
Nine ignition sequence start 6543210 All engine run that
Speaker 6 6:49
way we have a laptop 32 minutes past the hour
Speaker 1 6:57
boy, it was good. It was really the building shaking, getting softening we’ve become used to
Unknown Speaker 7:12
a homeless man on the way to the moon
Speaker 1 7:27
this was how CBS News correspondent Reed Collins so we’re down to 50 We’re down to 1211 10 Nine ignition sequence start we should see fire 4321 We have ignition we have tremendous flame out there all engines and we have lift off. She’s rising she’s yoing now to clear the tower that slight you all know that huge tail is passing the tower. She’s lifting up we have tower clear we have powered clear. We’re beginning to feel the first Andreas roar. I can see her rising now as she’s going up straight into the role program what she should be completing. We should expect to hear from the astronauts as this bit of land is beginning to shake with the power of it. The power of it as it goes through his life whisper cloud
Bob Smith 8:20
that was recorded from the CBS television network on Wednesday, July 16. Now let’s switch to the day of the moon landing July 20. By now we’ve all seen the black and white footage of the Apollo 11 Eagle landing craft touching down casting its shadow on the surface and stirring up some dust. The only thing is no one on earth saw it that day. That was film footage, and it wasn’t seen until after the astronauts returned to Earth. NASA didn’t turn on the TV cameras until hours later to capture Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin taking the very first moonwalk. That means that everyone at Mission Control – and everyone on Earth – on July 20 1969 followed the landing like you will right now: Listening to audio only and imagining what the scene looked like.
Speaker 6 9:15
a half down on forward I present 1513 1211 75 Looking good down a half 60 seconds icon two and a half
Unknown Speaker 9:46
two and a half. They don’t make that out into the right level. Starting Back
Speaker 6 10:08
back right okay
Unknown Speaker 10:17
command override off and then I’m off 13 events
Unknown Speaker 10:25
we copy you down Eagle
Unknown Speaker 10:33
Eagle landed a lunar module and landed on the moon.
Speaker 4 10:35
We copy on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot. Talk
Unknown Speaker 10:41
in the background between Houston and the LEM. It is
Unknown Speaker 10:46
looking good here
Unknown Speaker 10:51
we’re gonna be busy for a minute
Speaker 7 10:56
to Americans Neil Armstrong now, we haven’t heard the first words of their impressions of the moon as yet. A lot of relief around the world a billion people listening and waiting for this moment. greatest moment in history. Neil Armstrong and Wapakoneta, Ohio, Edwin Buzz Aldrin, of Montclair, New Jersey, two men on the surface of the moon a historic moment market well shortly after for 17 and a half pm on Sunday July 2019 69. A day to live in all history looks like we’re bending the
Speaker 4 11:34
rod your ego and your over your ego your stay for T one Rajan we see you’re getting the ox
Speaker 7 11:48
okay to stay on the surface of the moon, no emergency especially reentering lunar orbit. They are going to remain on the surface of the moon. They’ve got the okay from Houston. They’re on the surface of the moon the first man ever to set foot in another world. July 22 1969. Find a lift throughout all history the beginning of man’s exploration of the moon and the planets beyond. Neil Armstrong and just under 10 hours from now perhaps earlier will emerge from the eagle and set foot the first man to set foot under the lunar dust down the nine rung ladder of the eagle to plant his left foot on the moon surface. As TV cameras record the scene for all mankind and history. Earthlings can rejoice now prayer services have been answered.
Speaker 4 12:40
Rocky we have it by the way, by by Columbia he has landed tranquillity bass eagle is that plane quality over
Speaker 7 12:54
word from does anyone have a mission control in Houston giving the confirmation process our lines still up in the Mission Control airlines open to the moon live from the moon you’re hearing it over mutual this historic moment. Landing the first two Americans first two earthlings on the surface of another word and X major staying on this day will be for the T two event
Unknown Speaker 13:18
that is at
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21 minutes 26 seconds after initiation of power descent. That’s
Bob Smith 13:24
a recording from the now defunct Mutual Broadcasting System. And I love the authenticity and the excitement in the announcers voice as he comments on the NASA communications. A few minutes later, the astronauts began describing what they were seeing on the moon again, no TV camera had been turned on yet. That wouldn’t come until hours later. When Aldrin and Armstrong took the very first moonwalk
Speaker 6 13:50
election of just about every variety of angularity granularity and every variety of rock you could find the color is pretty much depending on how you’re looking relative to the base point. There doesn’t appear to be too much of a general color at all. However it looks as though some of the voters of which there are quite a few in the area. They’re gonna have some interesting color
Speaker 4 14:29
copy because you’re versus good sound good tranquillity will make you press on through the emulated countdowns and we’ll talk to you later over
Speaker 7 14:38
that was the alarm strong describing the surface of the Moon see a prank Okay, there’s
Unknown Speaker 14:42
one fixed is just like
Speaker 4 14:43
airplane by tranquillity. The advisor lots of smiling faces in this room and all over the world
Unknown Speaker 14:57
out there
Speaker 4 14:58
Joe’s a beautiful guy You got to get one in the command module.
Bob Smith 15:02
We’ll have more of the off ramp in just a moment. We return now to the off ramp with Bob Smith. Man
Speaker 1 15:10
has landed on the moon astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin have eaten man’s first meal on the moon within the next hour. The next big step man’s first step on the moon mission control says it’s still impossible to get a firm time for that depth. But the latest word is that it should happen sometime between 930 and 10pm. That’s the latest word from Mission Control.
Bob Smith 15:31
hours later TV cameras were on when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and mutual described it for listeners hearing it on the radio Neil
Unknown Speaker 15:41
Armstrong on the moon he has stepped up there we go
Unknown Speaker 15:54
36 and a half Eastern done
Unknown Speaker 15:55
for man by athlete
Speaker 6 16:15
small step for man one giant leap from first was finding battery I can I can pick it up loosely with my pill and finally layers like powdered charcoal to the size of my eye like maybe an eighth of an inch but I can see grams of my food from the Preds Bandy particles were copying
Speaker 6 17:11
as you pointed out before there seems to be no difficulty in moving around as we suspected perhaps easier than the simulation the one fixture that we performed various simulations on the ground hopefully no trouble to walk around
Speaker 6 17:51
did not leave a crater of any size it has about one foot clearance on the ground thankfully on a very liberal place here I can see some evidence of rays emanating from the diesel engine but
Unknown Speaker 18:21
the alarm strong from the moon tricking
Unknown Speaker 18:24
me ready to a gamma camera already I think it’s about squared away
Speaker 6 18:37
all elite looks like it’s coming out nice and evenly. Quite dark here in the shadow a little hard for me to see that I have good footing and I’ll work my way over into here without looking directly looking up at the lamp. I’m standing directly in the shadow now looking at those in the windows and I can see everything quite clearly the light is sufficiently bright, backlight it into the front of the lamp that everything is very clearly visible.
Speaker 7 19:18
no difficulty in walking on the moon. First steps have been taken. He’s still erect no problems. Soon Buzz Aldrin will join him four minutes from now
Speaker 7 19:39
pictures are being relayed from the Moon to the Earth at this very moment. Elson set the camera 30 feet away so they can take in the rest of this lunar exploration within 100 foot area of the eagle the deployment Have these three major experiments, seismometer laser reflector, and the solar wind experiment all going beautifully so far that dramatic moments being recorded for all mankind. Neil Armstrong’s first words, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Bob Smith 20:25
You’re listening to Bob Smith and the off ramp and recordings I made as a teenager from radio and television 50 years ago during the Apollo 11 Moon mission, these are from the mutual radio network. So you’re listening without pictures, of course, just as listeners heard it, who weren’t able to go to television sets. Of course, we couldn’t record moving footage off of our television sets back then home video had not been invented. You just heard Neil Armstrong his first words his first observations. Shortly after that Buzz Aldrin came down the ladder and joins Neil and there were two men on the moon. Again, back to my original tapes.
Unknown Speaker 21:14
You’re practicing that step Oghren. Jumping up and down. That will be the basis for a rock and roll hit this weekend from Friday
Speaker 7 21:33
the Armstrong Aldrin show live from the moon underneath.
Unknown Speaker 21:39
airmen from the planet Earth upon the American 1969 became an eighth blow mankind the crew members signatures and signature of the President of the United States it’s beautiful Mike really is wired. Laurie flying the flag up now.
Speaker 7 22:20
Governor Nelson Rockefeller said a few minutes ago that the imprint of all mankind has been left on the moon in the footfalls of the United States astronauts. And I think that’s so true, especially at this moment where you see the American flag flying Armstrong and all that now. Going back.
Speaker 8 22:38
Go ahead, Mr. President, this is Neil and Buzz, I talking to you from the Oval Room at the White House. And this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made in the White House. I just can’t tell you how proud we all are what you have done. For every American this has to be the proudest day of our lives. And for people all over the world. I am sure that they to join with Americans and recognizing what an immense feat This is. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man’s world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth. For one priceless moment, and the whole history of man. All the people on this earth are truly one wanting their pride in what you have done and one in our prayers that you will return safely.
Speaker 6 23:59
A great honor and privilege for us to be here representing not only the United States but
Unknown Speaker 24:10
of all nations and with interest and curiosity. But the vision for the future. honor for us to be able to participate here today.
Speaker 8 24:25
And thank you very much and I look forward all of us look forward to seeing on the Hornet on Thursday.
Bob Smith 24:35
The mission to the surface of the moon on that Saturday, July 20 was a success. And at 1:53pm The next day Sunday, July 21. The astronauts lifted off from the moon and rendezvoused with Michael Collins in the orbiting spacecraft. Then the three explorers fired away from lunar orbit and returned to the earth on July 24. Here is the news As it was broadcast on that day, documenting their return, the Apollo
Speaker 1 25:04
11 blazed a fiery trail from space through the atmosphere to the ocean today to end a flight which marked man’s emergence into the moon age. Millions on Earth waited anxiously during the reentry blackout for word that the capsule had indeed come safely home. That anxiety was relieved with shots from the recovery carrier on it standing by in the Pacific.
Speaker 1 25:34
Trailing her drove the capsules flashed into the ocean. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins, Dawn special non contaminant suits, and the Navy frogman dust them and their ship with disinfectant. Then, as a band played triumphantly, a helicopter lifted the man to the depths of the carrier and the beginning of 21 days in isolation, to guard against possible lunar contamination. With Apollo 11 and revalue and flew now safe at home, we can now begin a period of assessment, Reed Collins examines the mission from the CBS space headquarters in New York, Apollo 11, filled in 12 Dramatic minutes missing from the other pipelines, proving first of the system and many that could land safely on the moon, and proving that even when the starting place was not precisely known that they could get off the lunar surface and rendezvous with the command ship. The timeline of the lunar walk proved to pressing and if there were any disappointments the largest was the omission of the documented sample collection. It had been planned for Armstrong and Aldrin to work in concert to take photographs of areas from which rock samples would be taken, take up the rocks and then photograph the area minus the taken rocks again. As documented sampling was not done due to the press of time and the lunar walk. Armstrong did collect what he called selective samples. For two major experiments may not provide much information. The passive seismometer so carefully placed by Edwin Aldrin seems to be dying of solar heat stroke it was supposed to have lasted two years, the laser reflector has not reflected yet any of the many beams of light fired up at the moon, but that could be the fault of the earthly aiming. When the analysts are all finished with the post flight figuring there will be dozens of suggested changes some of the equipment others in procedure, each flight adds to the store of knowledge. Beyond the technical range. However, there is the immense plus of proving that dedicated men can meet a challenge working against a timeline that was set in 1961. Before this country had even put a man into orbit around the Earth. Characteristically, this country is a slow started, but met John F. Kennedy’s goal with five months and 11 days to spare. Well,
Bob Smith 27:46
there you have it. 50 years have passed since all the recordings in this program were made a word about some of the voices you heard. Sadly, my nuclear family is no more. My mom died at the age of 58 in 1980. Dad passed away in 1976 at the age of 76. And my sister Susan died at the age of 55 have a brain tumor in 2012. As for my teenage friends, Michael Epperson grew up to be an interior designer, Janet Strange was a social worker, and Frank Kitchel went into the alternative energy business. At last word, they were all healthy and still on this earth. In the fall of 1969, I turned 18. I packed up my gear and headed off to college. But during that brief moment, in the summer of 1969, I paused along with everyone else on Earth to reflect on just what all this was about. We all knew one thing, it was a moment we would all remember for the rest of our lives. Well, that’s our Apollo 11 story. We thank you for listening and hope you’ll join us next time when we come back with the off ramp. This is Bob Smith.
The off ramp with Bob Smith is produced in association with CPL radio and the Cedarbrook Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
