Apollo 11 50th Anniversary

[Don Shepherd]

(07-25-2019 02:07 AM)Dan Wrote:  Wow, thanks. You can sense the excitement, even without sound. Beautiful day for it, and a huge turnout. Very bright, that Saturn V sure was powerful. The big wide American cars with V8 engines are great too, before the 1970's oil crisis reduced the demand for large cars.

One of the things I remember about that day was the friendliness and helpfulness of the people. The guy in the car next to me really helped me out of a difficult situation. About two hours before launch I accidentally locked my keys in my car, with my camera on the front seat! The fellow with the floppy hat knew how to force the window down a bit and thread a coat hangar through the top of the window and hook the end around the lock plunger button and pull it up, unlocking the door. What a relief! You can't do that with modern cars.

They estimated that over a million people attended the launch, and not one of them had their head buried in a cellphone screen. It was truly America at its best.