RSS
Daily Herald Managing Editor
 NASA photos | Daily Herald Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission commander, at the modular equipment storage assembly of the lunar module “Eagle” on the historic first extravehicular activity on the lunar surface. |
At the Fairfax Restaurant, you could dine on chicken chow mein with rice and noodles for a $1.25. The same money would buy you a meal of spaghetti and meatballs with sauce.
The summer sports season was in full swing with one little league team headed to tournament play in Winston-Salem.
But for most folks, their eyes were straining upward and their hearts and minds tied to the fate of three men speeding away from the planet Earth toward the moon.
The headlines of then Sunday Herald sounded the tone, “Moon Landing Set Today.”
The United Press International report set the stage — “America’s flawless Apollo 11 whipped around the dark side of the moon Saturday and fired a six-minute rocket blast that hung it in lunar orbit — setting the stage for man’s first landing Sunday in a world other than his own.”
Smaller headlines told of “Moon Day Closings Set.” Monday, July 21, 1969, was to be a holiday.
Then North Carolina Gov. Bob Scott had first balked at the idea of a holiday but changed his mind after President Richard M. Nixon made it an official request. Always watching the pennies, Scott pointed out it cost the state $2 million. While the county and federal offices were closed, not all of the government shut down to watch history being made. Roanoke Rapids City Manager O.B. Stokes said there would be no holiday for city workers.
Local citizens were busy guessing what Neil Armstrong might say when he first stepped on the moon.
Among their guesses and suggestions were:
“We made it.” — Joe Floyd.
“This is a great day for all humanity.” — Miss Bonnie Cullom.
“It’s not what we expected.” — Lattie Martin.
“It’s a strange place.” — William Sledge.
“I never thought I’d get here.” — Kenneth Pepper.
“It’s not green cheese.” — Kathy Wilson
“Hello moon” — Dot Lambert
“It’s nothing like I expected.” — Buddy Gay.
“They said it couldn’t be done.” — Jet Purnell
“I wish I didn’t have to go back.” — Frank Cole III.
“Wow.” — Jimmy Beddard.
It all started May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress and offered a simple challenge, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
Eight years later on July 19, 1969, a Saturn V rocket exploded its power and sent Apollo 11 into space shortly after 9:30 a.m. Later, the spacecraft would circle the Moon and go into lunar orbit, began scouting their landing target and preparing to make history.
The next day the lunar module, The Eagle, separated from the command ship Columbia and its pilot Michael Collins, and headed to the surface. Minutes later, Neil Armstrong told the world all it needed to know, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
Armstrong would take the first steps on the rocky, dusty soil of the moon. Then would come Buzz Aldrin.
More Americans would come. Alan Shepard would swing a makeshift golf club. A lunar hot rod would leave behind tire tracks. And we would leave numerous promises and hopes for peace. It was a day of history never to be forgotten.
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