50 years, 50 years do you remember what you were doing on that day? I was in a small pizzeria in Toulon, France. My dad was retired from French Navy (Captain) We were all glued to a small TV. We were among half a billion people watching the impossible. At the time I would never have imagined that one day I would visit the Spacer center and live in Houston. On my first trip to Nasa I bought all of the badges from the different Apollo programs and glued them on a jacket. Afew years later I purchased the Omega moon watch. We can all dream and we all should dream for the next adventure. We go forward. That is who we are.
I was six years old. I think I was sitting on the floor in the front room in front of the old Black and White. I think there was only one TV in the house back then.
Not sure but CBS was usually the channel of choice in my home when it came to news events in those days.
Already looking to expand UH’s offerings, this provided President Phillip Guthrie Hoffman an opportunity to extend resources to NASA.
“The location of the space center in Houston particularly provided a stimulant to the University of Houston to accelerate its development as a major university,” historian Henry Dethloff wrote in his book “Suddenly Tomorrow Came…A History of the Johnson Space Center.”
A University newsletter from June 1962 cited an agreement between the two in which NASA’s partnership would expand into a physical presence on campus by leasing a two-story building.
“It is anticipated that MSC scientists and computing personnel will develop a close working relationship with their counterparts at the University of Houston,” the announcement said. “Some 1,000 NASA engineers and technicians will be trained by University personnel in programming for the digital computer.”
*NASA announced on Sept. 17, 1962 from Cullen Performance Hall the names of the second group of nine astronauts who would work on the NASA mission, six of whom would later fly to the moon. *
The event brought media from around the world to UH as they covered the event, putting the University on the map.
I watched from the Bamboo Lounge in Boston. It was on a side street, just off the Commons next to the Avery Hotel. I was in the Navy at the time and my ship was in the Boston yards.
