07-20-2024, 11:24 AM
7-yr-old me (with whom any 'bedtime' arguments during NASA missions were short-lived lessons in futility) was glued to our 19-in b/w tv. From liftoff on the morning of the 16th to splashdown around lunchtime on the 24th it pained me I had no line-of-sight to the screen when I had to make bathroom breaks.
In the late 60's the only things that kept networks/stations broadcasting past Carson's 1:00a close/"High Flight"/anthem were NASA missions and assassinations. Tom Snyder's show that followed Carson (who finally won his fight to cut back to 1 hour) was still a few years away.
It was so frustrating having to wait almost 7 hours after the Eagle landed late afternoon on the 20th before Neil/Buzz finally climbed out and down to the surface. It felt like my Dad had driven us to Jekyll for the day and then made us sit in the car watching the waves!
The broadcast from the moon's surface may have only been marginally better than trying to watch scrambled HBO late night years later, but damn it was fantastic!
![[Image: hqdefault.jpg]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CtwSgvstl8c/hqdefault.jpg)
In the late 60's the only things that kept networks/stations broadcasting past Carson's 1:00a close/"High Flight"/anthem were NASA missions and assassinations. Tom Snyder's show that followed Carson (who finally won his fight to cut back to 1 hour) was still a few years away.
It was so frustrating having to wait almost 7 hours after the Eagle landed late afternoon on the 20th before Neil/Buzz finally climbed out and down to the surface. It felt like my Dad had driven us to Jekyll for the day and then made us sit in the car watching the waves!
The broadcast from the moon's surface may have only been marginally better than trying to watch scrambled HBO late night years later, but damn it was fantastic!
