The Moon Landing - One Giant Leap

Five ... four ... three ... two ... ignition ... LIFT OFF! ...
And man is on his way to the moon!

... one small step ... one giant leap ...

That was from my memory archives and linked with the launching of the Apollo Moon Mission with three US Astronauts on board. The description and remarks made by mission control in Houston was relayed to the world by the Voice of America.

Events that occur in one's childhood are difficult to forget, the happy ones as well as ones which the self-help guru recommends that you trash.

I am extremely fortunate to have been around when this great historic event occurred. I was old enough to understand the glamour of everything associated with it. The buzz created by members of the family, by friends and relatives, by visitors to my home, the newspapers, and by special radio programs, caused the excitement to mount with every passing day.

Living thousands of miles away from the USA, the only link we had to this glorious event was a Telefunken AM radio.

Just prior to this historic event, we had a neighbour adjust the radio's external antenna located on our roof, in order to optimise reception conditions and receive uninterrupted signals from the Voice of America.

As a kid I remember that magazines like Time and Newsweek filled us in on various aspects of the voyage. Topics like escape velocity and heat generated on re-entry were discussed in science columns in many periodicals both local and international.

On that historic day the local newspapers dedicated several pages to this fabulous event. Three large pictures of Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins were on page one.

Many had gathered at my home. Where I live, it was customary for people to congregate at selected locations after an important event occurs. In this case, for the very first time in our lives we were to have the opportunity to hear a live commentary of history being created.

Although everyone in the neighbourhood had taken measures to enable clearer reception on their radio sets, nobody wanted to listen to the description of the launching all by himself. Everyone wanted company at this time.

I do not remember which neighbour or which relative was with us. All I remember was that the tuning dial of the radio needed to be adjusted constantly, and everyone took turns to do that.

The radio was switched on with the volume high, and the newspapers were spread on the dining table, and I took another glance at the pictures of Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins just before the countdown.

I remember the countdown very clearly. This was the most dangerous mission undertaken by man, and I was trying to imagine what it would have been like at the launching site.

The days prior to the event our minds were rushing to past events associated with the moon mission. I remembered having previously viewed a replica of the capsule in which US astronaut John Glenn made his journey into space. This was at an exhibition held in our city a couple of years before the event.

It's funny but so very appropriate that the mind always tends to bring into focus things that are associated with an event when there is a buzz around. The association need not necessarily be linked by precise detail.

The song that my mind was constantly playing was one of Dean Martin's. The lyrics were, "come bella cella luna ... "

To add to the music, pictures of the three astronauts whilst training for the mission flash across my mind from time to time, and works of fiction by yesterday's authors too ... but now this was real ...

Mission control in Houston was coming on and off via the VOA keeping listeners informed of the events alongside the countdown. Hearing stuff like reports on the cabin pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and even the ambiance temperature was really thrilling. The description was vivid, accurate and was most exciting to listen to.

An hour or so before scheduled take off, our attention was drawn away from the moon mission when an announcement came from Radio Moscow that the Russians had launched a spacecraft called Lunakhod 1.

"It is totally unmanned and will not have any bearing on the Apollo mission," assured a neighbour, who had his ears glued to his radio.

The hour was approaching, the countdown had begun, the pessimists were silently praying in the hope that nothing would go wrong. One of the guys was explaining to another what escape velocity is.

Many were not interested at that particular moment in understanding escape velocity. Everyone around was hoping that everything would work perfectly well and the mission would be a total success.

All of a sudden the reception became crystal clear, and it silenced everyone around. Perhaps it was a good omen. The clear voice of the announcer from Mission control ...

... leading up to ignition sequence ...

approaching T minus 60 seconds ...

55 seconds to go and counting ...

passed the 50 second mark ...

power transfer complete ...

40 seconds to go and counting ...

second stage tanks pressurised ...

T minus 25 seconds to go ...

20 seconds to go and counting ...

T minus 15 ... sequence guidance internal ...

12 seconds to go and counting ...

approaching T minus 8.5 ...

ignition sequence started ... 7 ... 6 ... 5 ...

all engines running ... 3 ... 2 ... ignition ... lift off ...

And man is on his way to the moon!

Neil A Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins were the three Americans to undertake the most dangerous mission mankind has ever known. They went in Peace for all mankind.

Immediately after lift off I rushed back to the table to have another look at the pictures of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. My sister too took a look and then she grabbed the page which had the caption "the men who made it possible".

She was interested in detail. If my memory is right, that page contained pictures of Wernher Von Braun and a few other scientists associated with the event.

The most important part of the mission and the most exciting one as well, was the blast off. The actual landing on the moon was a thing like expecting the obvious to happen. The joy that the mission had already gotten under way made the more important components of it somewhat insignificant.

Later on, the signals from the VOA began fading, and as a result, we missed Armstrong's famous words "one small step ... one giant leap."

I do not clearly remember the period between lift off and re-entry. I do remember we stayed tuned throughout the day and night to VOA and received bits and pieces of information from Mission Control on and off. Our door was open with the neighbours constantly stepping in and out.

Anyway, I do remember the anxious moments, and the short bursts of silence just before re-entry ... and the loud exclamation "there she is !!! ...." when the commentator spotted the white streak in the sky over the Pacific Ocean.

Musicians, poets, journalists, politicians, and people from all walks of life, irrespective of what part of the world they lived in, payed tribute to the three US astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins, in some way or the other, and rejoiced in the total success of the very first moon landing mission.

This was viewed by all as a great breakthrough for mankind in general, something the whole world took great interest in before, during, and after.

One small step by man, clearly signalling one giant leap for mankind, and quite rightly hailed by the entire human race as a great achievement.

Many years later after FM transmission was introduced, when I switched on that very same Telefunken AM radio which brought the Apollo moon mission into our very home, I heard a song which paid a tribute to Armstrong ... a song which became popular mostly by virtue of the event it referred to ... by an artist called Lobo ... and the lyrics ...

"and the whole world stopped to watch one day on that July afternoon, when a man named Armstrong walked upon the moon."

That walk, like all walks initiated by just one small step ... only one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!

... concluded