‘My heart raced at the landscape’s description’: Richard Isaacman

Richard Isaacman remembers being thrilled listening to the voice of Neil Armstrong on television after he landed on the moon.

I felt sick when I learned of the Apollo 1 fire in 1967; three astronauts dead, one of whom (Gus Grissom) I remembered from his Mercury flight six years earlier. I was 14 when he died, and it felt like losing a childhood friend. When Apollo flights resumed a year-and-a-half later, it felt like a personal triumph: I was hooked on space.

USA, July 17 (ANI): U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 Mission Commander, standing next to the Lunar Module "Eagle" on the moon July 20, 1969. (REUTERS PHOTO) (Reuters)

On July 20, 1969, I was spending the afternoon at my best friend’s house, glued to the TV in his room, jumpy with anticipation. It was a Sunday afternoon, sunny outside. The walls of his room were green — his favourite colour then and still today — and we sat on the edge of the bed as we watched newsman Walter Cronkite and listened. There was no imagery yet, but at about 4 PM we heard the first of the two famous sentences: “Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” I suppose I expected myself to jump up and whoop, but I didn’t. I could barely move, and I just grinned.

I went home later and stayed in front of the TV all evening, waiting for those first steps. I have no memory of my family being there, though they must have been: it was just me and the grainy black and white images on the TV. I remember all the news anchors saying, over and over, “What will he say? What will the quote be?” I wanted them all to shut up and let me watch the event and hear the words in peace. This was my event!