Apollo-Soyuz

[dewline]

This was the first mission I ever really properly noticed and Paid Attention to. I think the Regina Leader-Post had a full section devoted to this alone.

https://astronomy.com/news/2020/07/apollo-soyuz-mission-when-the-space-race-ended

Comments

[thewayne]

I have a very clear memory in the second grade of the entire grade being ushered into one classroom to watch an Apollo moon landing/man walking on the moon on a little B&W TV. It must have been Apollo 12, as that mission was Nov 14–24, 1969, and I was in the second grade in '69/'70. Apollo 11 launched during July '69, school wouldn't have been in session at that time.

[dewline]

One advantage of summer vacations in grade school during such times: you had a fair chance of being able to focus on such stories in the news to the exclusion of so much else.

[thewayne]

Yep!  I remember watching everything I could on Apollo, my folks had a special publication subscription on the space program that was fascinating.  In fact, the Apollo 11 command module went on tour after its return!  It was encased in plastic, mounted on a trailer, and it went around the country.  It would spend the day at a fair ground, along with some other objects from the mission - including moon rocks - then it would move on to another city. And yes, it stopped at the Arizona State Fair Grounds in Phoenix, and we went and saw it.  It was long before I got into photography, but I have very vivid memories of it.