Forty years ago today the world watched as Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the moon. Science Fiction and reality had met and the result was mesmerizing. I was 9 years old as I sat on the floor in front of our old 25” console TV and watched anxiously as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon for the first time.  I remember thinking, "What if he just blows up" or "evaporates"?  Star Trek had been around for a couple of years by then.  

I know I heard Armstrong utter those words that are now carved into the history and consciousness of 20th century man; “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.” But I don’t remember those words. They became familiar to me, later, over time.

I do remember being excited earlier as we heard the scratchy, distorted transmission, “Houston, the Eagle has landed.” That was cool. After all, we were watching from Houston.  As a kid it’s always exciting to hear your town or city’s name mentioned by someone famous…but to hear it spoken as the first word from the moon was really cool.  The problem with memory is that the Apollo 11 Astronauts never said those words.  They said, "Tranquility Base, here.  The Eagle has landed."

For the most part however, it is not the words that stuck with me, anyway.  It is the images that are burned into my brain, those grainy black and white, almost fake looking images of those men on the moon. I remember a mix of both pride and curiosity when the Astronauts planted the U.S. flag. I remember asking, “Does that mean America owns the Moon?” My mother told me that no one owns the moon.  It, like the Earth and all the heavens, belong to God. My recollection, too is that I watched all of this in the evening or at night with my parents, and that it was still going on the next day.

That next day we all got into the car; Momma, Daddy, my nephew Henry, my sister Bea and me, and we drove from for our South East Houston home some miles away to a little tiny town called Pearland.

There we went to Ford’s Café and had lunch. This was memorable for two reasons. It was rare that we ever ate out. Money was tight and Momma was a great cook. So eating out was very unusual. It was also memorable because I saw those moon men again.

The restaurant had a TV sitting on a stand and everyone in the place was watching while they enjoyed their meals. I also seem to recall that while I was amazed at the fact that men were standing on the moon, I was more amazed that we were able to see them. How could that be? Perhaps, it was there that my fascination for Television began. I don’t know, but I do know that the U.S. was Astronaut-crazed from that moment on.

Astronauts were the new hero of the day, especially in Houston, the home of NASA. I remember putting together my Lunar Module model with cement and great concentration. I remember doing the same with my really cool Lunar Rover model, later. Although I seem to recall a wheel that always fell off. I remember wishing I had a Lunar Rover, it looked like more fun than a dune buggy.

It was some years later, when as an adult I went to NASA and saw the rockets up close, and the Lunar Module and the Lunar Rover, and the world famous “Moon Rocks”. It was all very cool then. It was all so exciting. Now, looking back forty years later, it remains just as exciting.

Congratulations to NASA on the 40th anniversary of a moment in time when all the world watched a magnificent triumph.

Pubisher's note:  I have been informed by several readers that my memory is actually correct.  "Houston" was the first word spoken from the Moon.  Later video and audio clips have often edited out "Houston." 

To see a transcript of what was spoken for the "The First Lunar Landing" click HERE