There are moments in our lives when an historic event happens and stops our daily routine.
July 20 1969 is a date that lives in my mind to this day, not because it is my birth date (the day not year), I am never big on birthdays, but a day that I still vividly recall. But more importantly what were you doing on that day/night when man landed on the moon for the first time?
The lead up started on July 16 at 6.45 am. Three American astronauts following a breakfast that would have health experts of today shaking their heads, of scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice, steak and coffee, donned their spacesuits and support gear and made their way to Apollo 11’s capsule some 34 storeys above the tarmac.
One thing for sure is they went into space with a huge breakfast.
The team of Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins headed by Neil Armstrong were possibly the worlds best trained, a point that possibly only the Soviets would argue, however they would be the ones ready to chisel their names in moon rock.
The boys had a huge support team, hundreds in Launch and Huston control and thousands of trackers around the world, including Australia, set to check every millisecond of this epic adventure.
For those who have been on the front line of battle, sporting events, life saving experiences there is always the pre-event personal thoughts and for some, fears.
From all reports Neil Armstrong was a cool commander as he, Buzz and Mike ran through the last minute check list with launch control. Imagine what went through their minds when told only minutes to take off. Its reported Neil had one hand on the “abort” handle just in case.
Australia had two tracking stations, one at Parkes NSW in a paddock of sheep and Honeysuckle Creek in the ACT. Fortunately Engineers in Australia recorded the “raw” camera feed, when Neil Armstrong took those momentous steps onto the moons surface, as the other images were described by the Stan Lebar who created the camera for the mission, as “Mush” and what the World first saw as, “A bastardized thing!’
To add insult to injury NASA has lost the tapes, as Stan Lebar found, “The Governments (USA) data storage system is a shambles” and the story gets more bazaar when you read how the “Moon Walk” tapes have been stored, handled and possibly erased.
Not just NASA. I have seen Radio and TV stations in the USA and Australia, erase historical tapes and in some cases sent out to be used as landfill all at the bequest of some misguided fool trying to big note themselves.
When Neil stepped out to utter those immortal words, the Australian tracking stations were in a direct line to the action. Parkes 200 foot diameter radio dish withstood a freak 70MPH gust and captured the image. Later audio tapes would be found in an Australian garage that would help Stan Lebar, dedicated engineers and those who try to preserve history hear what really happened on July 20 1969.
In 2007 in search for video tapes of the landing there was some light at the end of the tunnel for searchers when told that the Curtin University of Technology in Perth WA had numerous tapes of Lunar surface experiments. The outcome I have not discovered.
July 16 at 9.32 am EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) the huge Saturn V rocket roared off the launching pad with Launch control saying “We have lift off, 32 minutes past the hour, lift off of Apollo 11. Tower cleared.”
The space capsule landed on the moon July 20 1969 at 4.17 pm EDT.
Worldwide the Neil A Armstrong Commander –Michael Collins Command Module Pilot- Edward E Aldrin Jnr. Lunar Module Pilot became household names and will live on until this planet finally becomes a speck of space dust.
In 2006 an audio expert stirred the pot when its reported he’d discovered from the audio tapes the origional words uttered by Neil Armstrong when he became the first Earthling to step onto the surface of the moon was not, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” BUT:
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”
Returning to my question, “What were you doing on the night (Australian time) when Neil Armstrong set his space boots on the moon?”
For me? I had returned from the USA to re-format the Greater 3UZ Melbourne for my mentor and radio management super star Lewis Bennett.
I was alone in a room at The Southern Cross Hotel in Exhibition St around the corner from the radio station at 45 Bourke St.
I sat on the edge of the bed glued to the TV and thought, “If they can do that, then everything is possible.”
One of the earliest National Australian TV successes was country music star Reg Lindsay hosting Channel 9’s “Country and Western Hour” and “Reg Lindsays Country Homestead.” I can hear you saying, “Hey Ken what has Reg got to do with Neil Armstrongs walk on the moon? “ During his career Reg wrote and recorded over 500 songs and 64 albums including his biggest hit, “Armstrong.” USA singer songwriter and one time member of the Kingston Trio John Stewart wrote the song watching the moon landing and released his version but it was Reg Lindsay who created it into a major hit in 1969. For those of us who met and interviewed Reg it was a privilege and recall the times he popped into 2GB and was a guest on my country show “Record Round Up.” Didn’t know about that one? Ha!!!
In case you have not read the complete behind the scenes story check out the Pan Macmillan book that is still available, “Neil Armstrong-A life of Flight” written by NBC reporter and close friend Jay Barbree.
Ken Sparkes
Jukebox Saturday Night
