Poll

Were you born before December 11th, 1972 when Apollo 17 Lunar Module left the Moon's surface?

Yes, I was born before 12/11/72 (at 5:55 PM EST)
85 (69.1%)
No, I am younger than that
38 (30.9%)

Total Members Voted: 123

Voting closed: 01/26/2017 04:45 pm


Author Topic: Were you born before the last Apollo Astronauts left the Moon?  (Read 22101 times)

Offline alang

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I guess I must have been conceived sometime during the Cuban missile crisis.
The first mission I can directly remember was Apollo 8 and it made a big impact on me. Of course when you are five years old Christmas can be very important and maybe I mixed it up with that. For whatever reason it made a bigger impact on me than Apollo 11.
It is difficult now to capture the sense of the sublime that accompanied those moments. Part of that feeling was obviously due to the  childish mind, but the relative indifference of the current generation shows that it wasn't just that. Asking for the moon used to be a way of describing the impossible and anything associated with a trip to the moon had a sense of the profound associated with it. We have all changed.

Offline TaurusLittrow

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About 10 years old at the time of Apollo 17. Remember some of Gemini and the Apollo 1 fire (first reported by a "crawl" at the bottom of the TV screen). The impact of Apollo 8 was profound and magical to a 7-year-old on Christmas vacation from school. I'll never forget the words, "You are go for TLI" and the sight of an ever shrinking Earth. 
« Last Edit: 01/22/2017 02:05 pm by TaurusLittrow »

Offline Davp99

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Born August 31st, 1955

And I was Lucky enough to have a Father who Liked the New Space Frontier. I remember 1960 Christmas, One of my Gifts was a Box of Rockets & Launchers called Cape Canaveral.
    I was also lucky to have a Teacher who never failed to bring in his Black & White TV to watch Mercury thru Gemini & Apollo Missions while they Lifted Off & Splash Downed....  and I made sure to Pass Along to my Son & Grandson All my Love of Space ...  David
You Only Live Twice

Offline CraigLieb

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Thanks all for sharing your stories.
I like the stories much more than the poll that inspired you all to share.
As a young boy, I watched the Apollo 11 landing on my Aunt and Uncle's TV having been given permission to stay up late to see the historic event. The idea that we were walking on the Moon inspired me to become a pilot and an Aeronautical Engineer.

Although I don't expect to be selected from among the 22,000 people that applied for NASA Astronaut candidate training, I did throw my application into the hopper last year, so I still can claim that I am/was a candidate. God willing, I will get to Space in my lifetime, even if I have to pay my way in baggage class.
On the ground floor of the National Space Foundation... Colonize Mars!

Offline high road

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I wonder if this poll is representative for the forum's readers. I would have expected a lot more younger people.

My mother was pregnant with me when Challenger exploded. That makes me the youngest of the people who have responded so far  ???

Offline haywoodfloyd

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I was about 10 years old when John Glenn made his orbital flight. I remember being enthralled by spaceflight, so much so that my father bought me a 45 RPM record that contained the highlights of Glenn's flight.
I played it over and over until it wouldn't play anymore.
I'm sad when I think of how, soon, it will be 50 years since the first moon landing and where are we?
If only there had been a visionary in the White House instead of Nixon, things would be very much different than they are now.
I know that there were many young people that were "enthralled" by the Shuttle Program like I was with Mercury/Gemini/Apollo but my time had a goal.
You could say that the Shuttle had a goal of building the ISS but it's just not the same.
I would like to see us go back to the moon and this time to stay. It would give us valuable experience for that big jump to Mars but in our own backyard. You must walk before you can run.

Offline Archibald

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82 to 35.

Really ?

I've born exactly a decade after Apollo 16, thus in spring 1982.

 It could have been worse: had von Braun 1969 Mars plan happened as shown on the slides, first Mars landing would have been August 11, 1982... I would have been a toddler, and twice as much frustrated.

Had it happened in spring 1986 (STG "relaxed budget option, 1969) I wouldn't remember it, not being 4 years old...
At least I can't remember having seen STS-51L live, nor anxiety about Chernobyl... but I discovered both disasters before 10 and they thoroughly traumatized me.
« Last Edit: 01/26/2017 08:13 am by Archibald »
Han shot first and Gwynne Shotwell !

Offline Flying Beaver

Im 16, born only a couple months before Humankind started its uninterrupted occupation of space.

I sometimes think that I have faint memories of Columbia, but I do doubt it somewhat, seeing I only would of been 2 1/2.

SpaceX for me goes back a while. Falcon 1 was in the news when I was younger, and spaceflight in general has always been a passion of mine.

I find it sad that I only truly started following space 2 years after STS-135 landed, but in a way its cool to be part of a generation of space enthusiasts that doesn't have the shuttle, and where Elon and the SpaceX Space-Hipsters are the role models for our future.

The picture below I took on the most awesome night of my life. Seeing the future unfold. After a 5000km journey across a continent. December 21st 2015, the day spaceflight changed forever, I was there to witness it.

And here's to the future of space, for all of us. From commercial crew, to Falcon Heavy, Vulcan, Raptor, ITS to Mars and beyond. Its one damn cool (tho uncertain in some regards ;)) time to be here on Planet Earth.

- Flying Beaver, The Canadian Space Hipster
« Last Edit: 01/26/2017 08:56 am by Flying Beaver »
Watched B1019 land in person 21/12/2015.

Offline StandardOrbit

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I remember my whole family going outside to try to see Sputnik. I was 4.

Back then we could see the Andromeda Galaxy. Now you can't see the Milky Way.

Offline Jim

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December 21st 2015, the day spaceflight changed forever, I was there to witness it.


What?  What happened then?  I must have missed something there.  That was just a rocket launch
« Last Edit: 01/30/2017 02:14 am by Jim »

Offline MATTBLAK

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Unless you're being slightly sarcastic, Jim - I think he means the landing of the Falcon 9 first stage back at KSC. It was an achievement; maybe not on the level of the first Sputnik, Gagarin or the first docking in space, but an achievement nonetheless.
« Last Edit: 01/30/2017 03:45 am by MATTBLAK »
"Those who can't, Blog".   'Space Cadets' of the World - Let us UNITE!! (crickets chirping)

Offline Jim

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Unless you're being slightly sarcastic, Jim - I think he means the landing of the Falcon 9 first stage back at KSC. It was an achievement; maybe not on the level of the first Sputnik, Gagarin or the fist docking in space, but an achievement nonetheless.

Wow, I didn't never think of that.  Yes, it is an achievement but not as he stated it

Offline Elvis in Space

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My earliest memories are of Walter Cronkite reporting on the Apollo 1 fire and asking mom what happened. I was very much part of watching Apollo 10 barnstorm the moon because I was a big Peanuts fan (Charlie Brown and Snoopy) I still have the snapshot mom took of Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon. She used a flash with her little Kodak 126 and only thing visible is a big reflected white spot filling the screen. I loved watching every minute of Apollo coverage. Grew up in a very non-technical family but it fascinated me to no end and never went away. My parents let me stay up late to watch Apollo 17 lift off and head for the final journey. It never entered my mind that all these years later we still would not have returned. Later came model rockets, computers, cameras, cars, guns, girls, and girls and girls and...yeah, you get it.  :o
Cheeseburgers on Mars!

Offline IRobot

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This poll is not a complete age profile of NSF users, but it is a bit concerning.
If most users are indeed over 45 years old, it might be happening what I saw in amateur astronomy some years ago: only old-timers are interested in the subject. It was painful to go to astronomy shows and observations and no young people were showing up any longer. It seems the new generations have no interest in it.

Offline RotoSequence

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This poll is not a complete age profile of NSF users, but it is a bit concerning.
If most users are indeed over 45 years old, it might be happening what I saw in amateur astronomy some years ago: only old-timers are interested in the subject. It was painful to go to astronomy shows and observations and no young people were showing up any longer. It seems the new generations have no interest in it.

Engaging on this forum is daunting. Between the decades of institutional knowledge and complexity of the subject itself, there's a steep learning curve and what looks to be an active interest against changing that. This forum often isn't a particularly inviting place.

Offline Bynaus

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I was born close to eight months before Columbia took her first flight on that shiny white tank (an iconic image that would adorn my childhood room's door many years later). I have been interested in space and spaceflight since my early childhood days, but I have no direct memory of the Challenger accident (if anything, I remember my parents being very concerned about Chernobyl at the time). As a teenager, I grew up thinking that by 2015, we should definetely have made it to Mars (if not 2005, as some supported back then). I remember being very upset at the time that nothing, eventually, came from Hermes (the european shuttle), DC-X and Venture Star (yes, I know, Blue Origin builds on the legacy left by DC-X, so there's that). The bright future in spaceflight I was hoping for died a little back then.

I remember the Columbia accident as if it was yesterday. We had been on a skiing day with my local boy scouts group, and I just sat there in the bus, dumbstuck after hearing the news on the radio, surrounded by people who did not really understand or care what had happened. At that point, it really felt like the history of human spaceflight was drawing to an all-too-early close (although the slow but continuing interest and progress by China was a little light of hope).

And then, a few years later, came SpaceX.
More of my thoughts: www.final-frontier.ch (in German)

Offline high road

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This poll is not a complete age profile of NSF users, but it is a bit concerning.
If most users are indeed over 45 years old, it might be happening what I saw in amateur astronomy some years ago: only old-timers are interested in the subject. It was painful to go to astronomy shows and observations and no young people were showing up any longer. It seems the new generations have no interest in it.

Engaging on this forum is daunting. Between the decades of institutional knowledge and complexity of the subject itself, there's a steep learning curve and what looks to be an active interest against changing that. This forum often isn't a particularly inviting place.

Interesting. Everything you said is exactly why I like coming here: people with experience can explain why a particular idea is not viable, so you can improve it. Ideas that are more fiction than science get weeded out. Still, I would have expected a lot more young people. Although a lot of regulars seem to not have posted a reaction (yet). Maybe unwillingness to risk that their age might be considered a lack of experience by elder forum members?

Offline MATTBLAK

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Yes - sometimes age is a factor in the interest group(s) we are discussing. It's not a hard and fast rule; as I have encountered the odd weirdo in my age group - but people under the age of 40 it has been my experience to witness, are more likely to tell me that not only Apollo, but all Space ventures manned and unmanned, Russian, American or Chinese are just being faked. Apparently, the two Shuttle launches I and thousands of others witnessed in person in 1996 and 2011 are not real and did not happen. Space missions are the special effects wing of the Illuminati, the Freemasons, or whomever else the Hoaxtard wankers are raving about this week. Some of these guys get very, very aggressive - on Quora just recently I've had Flat Earth Hoaxtards pursuing me to try 'educate' me away from my 'wrongness'. I am absolutely not making this up. And don't even try to engage these clowns on YouTube comments sections - unless you like threats of violence and death.

I know some of you will roll your eyes and probably say; "Matt - you've been banging on about these idiots for awhile now: give it a rest and ignore them!" The rhetorical question one could ask is - how did we come to this?! Believe me when I tell you - this set of hoax memes is slowly but surely growing like a cancer of the intellect. Even the skeptical among you must accept this reality sometime. But don't let it ever get you down.

Like many of you guys; I am a child of Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle and also of Viking, Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo, Hubble and Cassini. And I revere the Mars Exploration Rovers and Curiosity. I am proud to be a child of Space. Nobody; no Hoaxtard can take that away from me - nobody. We need to help make the next generation the children of Space, too.
"Those who can't, Blog".   'Space Cadets' of the World - Let us UNITE!! (crickets chirping)

Offline CraigLieb

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While there seems to be a larger 'older than 45' crowd on the forum and interested in space generally, I believe that launching humans from the USA again and making bold steps to go to Mars will re-engage the younger groups.  The recent NASA movie, Hidden Figures, is being reported as creating more interest in science as a career for girls. These are hopeful signs. I bought NASA flight suit pajamas for my unborn grandchild the weekend I found out my daughter was expecting. She may be an astronaut some day.
On the ground floor of the National Space Foundation... Colonize Mars!

Offline philw1776

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Another older than 45.
I was 12 when Sputnik launched.  TV News bulletin interrupted our watching "M Squad" with Lee Marvin.  I was previously interested in astronomy and spaceflight via a Willy Ley book my mother bought me.  It was fun to be a sudden 12 yr old expert on all things space while adults were ignorant and puzzled.
FULL SEND!!!!

 

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