The appliance section at K-mart.
Major appliances, stereos and TV's;
Two or three walls full of TV's.
Attention, K-mart shoppers!
I was just fifteen years old
on that strange, wonderful day
of July 20th, 1969...
People from all over the store 
wandered over to major appliances
to stand, like so many mannequins
watching walls of tv's...
The same surreal drama
playing out on every channel.
It seemed ethereal, eternal,
as we stood there watching,
nearly paralyzed; forgetting to breath;
and finally...  finally, Neal spoke.
A great CHEER went up 
from the K-mart crowd
and I remember shuddering 
as a tear of pride for my country
rolled down my cheek:

"Houston, Tranquility Base Here"
"The Eagle has landed"	

****************************
Cecil Williams    8/31/92

Apollo-11.au 134K




Click here for more info on Apollo 11

 

On July 20, 1969, after a four day trip, the Apollo astronauts arrived at the Moon. This photo of Earthrise over the lunar horizon is one of the most famous images returned from the space program, although even the astronauts themselves cannot remember who actually took the picture. The lunar terrain shown, centered at 85 degrees east longitude and 3 degrees north latitude on the nearside of the Moon is in the area of Smyth's Sea. (NASA photo ID AS11-44-6552)

The crew of Apollo 11: Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Command Module pilot Michael Collins, Lunar Module pilot Edwin A. Aldrin, Jr. May 1, 1969. (NASA photo ID S69-31739)

This west-looking image of the landing site in the southwestern Sea of Tranquility was taken from the Lunar Module (LM) one orbit before descent, while still docked to the Command Module (CM). The Tranquility base site is near the shadow line, just to the right of center. The large crater at the lower right is Maskelyne. The large black object in the lower left is not a shadow but a LM thruster. (NASA photo ID AS11-37-5437)