Apollo 11 anniversary marked with nostalgia, ambition
Nation celebrates lunar landing as local space agency workers hope for return trip
HOUSTON — Standing beside his 1966 Volkswagen Beetle on Tuesday, Steve Foote looked as if he were about to walk into NASA’s mission control room in Houston and help Apollo 11 rocket to the moon.
His skinny, black tie stood out against his starched, white dress shirt — short-sleeved, of course.
His pocket protector — bought on Amazon — held his pens in place.
He even had a slide rule — an original from his father, James, who worked on the Apollo program — though he admits he doesn’t know how to use it.
Foote doesn’t dress like that every day. But Tuesday, on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch, he could think of no better way to honor all those who worked on the mission.
“I’m second-generation NASA and I’m thrilled to be here for the anniversary,” said Foote, 56, who is a data ana
lyst for the space agency. “It’s so exciting.”
On July 16, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins rocketed to the moon at 8:32 a.m. CDT from Launch Pad 39A at what then was Cape Kennedy, Fla., now Cape Canaveral.
An estimated 1 million people watched from Florida’s beaches and inlets, and millions more watched on television worldwide.
And 50 years later, hundreds of NASA employees joined Foote on the lawn of the Johnson Space Center in Houston for a celebratory event, complete with a parade of 1960s-era cars.
Some were decked out in costumes. Others proudly displayed their cars. But most simply chatted with friends, enjoyed Moon Pies and gathered anniversary swag, including an Apollo 50 canvas bag, stickers, pins and a poster.
Launch pads and museums
The launch festivities kicked off celebrations across the nation building up to Saturday’s events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moonwalk.
At the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., Vice President Mike Pence unveiled the spacesuit that Armstrong wore during the flight — with moon dust still scattered on the knees, thighs and elbows.
The suit went on display for the first time in 13 years, as Armstrong’s son, Rick, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine looked on. Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82.
In Florida, Collins, now 88, returned to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center to mark the exact moment of liftoff.
“Wonderful feeling to be back,” Collins said on NASA TV. “There’s a difference this time. I want to turn and ask Neil a question and maybe tell Buzz Aldrin something, and of course, I’m here by myself.”
Aldrin, 89, was unable to attend, officials said.
In Huntsville, Ala., where the Saturn V was developed, thousands of model rockets were set off simultaneously to mark the launch anniversary. Three children of German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who developed the Saturn V for the United States, attended the ceremony.
‘Required watching’
The week is particularly special in Houston, home of Mission Control and the nation’s human spaceflight program, where astronauts live, train and work.
Bill Todd, whose father worked in human spaceflight training during the Apollo and Shuttle programs, remembers what it was like to live in Houston, specifically the Nassau Bay area, at the time.
Astronauts were rock stars; they were fawned over like celebrities. But they were also neighbors.
More specifically, Apollo 16 astronaut Ken Mattingly was his neighbor. And that’s how Todd says he acquired Mattingly’s 1966 Mustang Fastback.
“My dad bought the car from Ken in 1975 for $500,” Todd, now 60, said. “I was a junior in high school at the time so I started driving it.”
Mattingly — who was famously bumped from the problemplagued Apollo 13 flight for fear that he would contract the measles — was the command module pilot for the Apollo 16 flight in April 1972. He never stepped on the moon, but he went on to fly two space shuttle missions. He is 83.
Todd and his wife, Karen, brought the car to Johnson Space Center on Tuesday to show it off. They both work at NASA and spent part or all of their childhood in Houston.
“The moon landing was required watching,” Karen, now 59, laughed.
The Todds both watched Armstrong and Aldrin step foot on the moon in 1969 from their respective homes in Houston. Foote also watched it, though from his home in Huntsville, Ala., where his family lived because of his father’s work at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Back again
He remembers being able to stay up until 10 — incredibly late for a six-year-old, he said — and watching the first steps on the moon on a 20-inch, black-andwhite television. His father took a picture of the TV set when the first steps occurred. The Polaroid photo sits on Foote’s desk to this day.
Both he and the Todds hope they still are working at NASA when the space agency sends humans back to the moon. And they’re excited for President Donald Trump’s plan to send astronauts there by 2024.
Though that date is not set in stone, they say it’s a good step. And no matter when it happens, Johnson employees will be vital in getting them there.
“Going back to the moon is the right thing to do,” said George Abbey, who worked on the Apollo program and later became director of the Houston center. “And the people here today will make that possible, just as they made going to the moon 50 years ago possible.”