We sat in the living room of the cottage on Birch Street in Noyac, straining to see and hear what was happening on the Moon.
Mom and dad, Kathy, Brien, Kevin and I were huddled around the little black-and-white TV we'd brought out from Yonkers for the occasion. We didn't usually watch television when were in "the country," but we had to watch this. The antenna could only pick up one decent signal -- Channel 8 in New Haven, Conn. -- so we watched ABC's coverage, with anchorman Frank Reynolds and science reporter Jules Bergman.
Watch brief excerpts from ABC's coverageBetween the low quality of the transmissions from the Moon, and the shaky signal from across Long Island Sound, it was difficult at times to follow just what was happening. Meanwhile I was trying to get the important moments on audio tape -- using a cassette recorder with a nasty habit of tangling the tape. My attention was divided between the screen and the wheels going around on the recorder.
The scratchy voice of Neil Amstrong said something about the LEM... and the cassette's take-up reel stuck. I quickly stopped the machine, popped out the cassette to straighten the tape, pushed it back in and resumed the recording. Of course, it was in that instant that Armstrong said: "That's one small step for a man..."
So the audiotape record that I was so intent on creating captured the historic moment thusly: "I'm stepping down from the LEM now. (CLICK POP) One giant leap for mankind."
I've felt guilty ever since that my fussing with the recorder distracted the rest of the family from that magic moment. Hopefully they were all ignoring me and focusing on the screen. Of course, the famous words have been replayed over and over in the years since. Meanwhile that cassette is probably in a box in our storage locker. But it would be hard to find a machine to play it on.
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I remember that day very well, except the part of the tape recorder...so I guess you didn't distract me anyway! Fuzzy black and white picture or not, it was truly an amazing site to see. I'm sure that is what gave me my interest in space and astronomy which I still have today.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone wants to relive the event, wechooosethemoon.org is a pretty good site with a lot of clips, pictures and info.
I remember that Nana, Aunt Pat, Uncle John and Mary Lorraine rented a cottage up Birch St that week; I remember watching the Apollo mission at their cottage, but I don't recall which part-perhaps the launch, or midflight. The moon landing we watched at Fair Play as Dan described, but like Kevin I dont recall Dan's tape recorder snafu so it surely didn't bother me. One thing Kathy will remember: In the summer of 69, someone abandoned an ancient wooden motorboat (lacking a motor,the ability to float, and amenities) in Mill Creek. It had been pulled half out of the water and left, with no anchor, registration,etc. Kathy and I "claimed" the boat, sitting in it, inventing adventures, having fun. What little paint remained was green. Since we found it, we named it "Founder". We quickly grew tired of it and there it sat. Then Uncle John, Aunt Pat, Mary Lorraine and Nana arrived, as did a pretty cold night for July. On whichever night that was,us Murphys went up the street to visit them and follow the Apollo mission, and Uncle John had a fire going. In the fire (and soon to be) were strips of wood -with green paint on them! He had gone looking for firewood and spotted the "shipwreck", and that was that. As strong as Uncle John was, (and since I doubt he went firewood-hunting with an axe, crowbar, and saw) he probably picked it up out of the water and smashed it to splinters over his knee! He demolished it with his bare hands one way or another! The steering wheel is probably under the sand somewhere still. Since Founder had been our "secret" find, nobody knew we cared two pins about it, so we mourned its loss privately. But in truth we had grown bored with it earlier and it didnt matter anymore. This is my version of the events of that exciting week; Kathy can correct me if I got any details wrong. I still have a chunk of "Founder". It reminds me of Kathy and the fun we had; it reminds me of an exciting, historic moment in American history; it reminds me of a great gathering of the Murphy Six, the beloved Burke clan, and the revered and incomparable Nana. It especially reminds me of my awesome Uncle, "Big John" Burke, who I admired greatly. I wish I was there to see him pulverize that old wreck! Or maybe he just hoisted it up and carried it over his head the few blocks back to his cottage! It wouldn't surprise me, he was so strong!
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