When I was a child, my mother considered the NASA space flights to be Important Historical Events. The spacecraft for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs launched (with accompanying television coverage) from Cape Kennedy (Canaveral) in the morning three time zones in front of us. My mother expected us to watch every single one. As a family, we needed to demonstrate our commitment to the national purpose and witness these great moments in history.
Many memories at 4 or 5 in the morning being awakened by my mother "It's T minus 30 minutes" she would sing out gaily "Better get up NOW!" So we would stumble out in our pajamas with blankets to the family room staring blankly at the black and white tv with Walter Cronkite intoning softly on the progress of preparations. Visually, the same scene, the big rocket in the center flanked by a tall gantry with meaningful puffs of something occasionally escaping from the rocket. Over and over, we would watch the tape of the astronauts waving as they entered the space capsule. Slowly the countdown worked itself down. Maybe a delay "T minus 10 and holding" Why? Houston would provide an answer. Now the countdown resumed, soon, less than a minute...everything in order? Then the final 5-4-3-2-1, "We have ignition, we have liftoff!" Impressive shows of flame and smoke and slowly the rocket lifted. With concentration and concern, we watched the shaky ascent (hand held cameras). Would the mission be a success? The image became smaller and smaller until the rocket became just a little dot on the horizon.
My mother would make a special breakfast and we went off to school confident that America's technological prowess and superiority had triumphed again.
My mom doesn't remember any of this. She cannot recall any liftoffs or rockets or sleepy children....
2 comments:
I've caught up on your posts and spent some time looking at your 1962 photo blog. I love both of them. You're a great writer with a great memory. I wish there were more hours in the day so I could visit you every day.
I remember watching some lift off's but don't remember the time of day. They were important and I seemed to be one of the kids that always knew when they went up. It was important to Mom so it was important to me. Never remember Dad sitting with us when we watched.
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