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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > The view from Ireland when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon - A moment of history like no other in that summer of 1969 or since

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

The view from Ireland when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon - A moment of history like no other in that summer of 1969 or since

Posted on Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 08:25 AM

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Neil Armstrong

I was sixteen years old in the summer of 1969, working my first summer job in an electrical plant about ten miles from my hometown of Drogheda on Ireland’s East Coast.

The night and morning of the moon landing is impressioned on my brain forever. Like 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination I can recall it as vividly as yesterday.

My family had gathered around our black and white television set to await the great moment.

RTE, the Irish television channel, was the only station we had and things were still pretty primitive.

A presenter called Kevin O’Kelly was the only host. He sat there literally for hours, trying to fill in the waiting as we awaited word on when Neil Armstrong, who had piloted Eagle the craft that had landed on the moon just after 9:00 pm our time, would open the hatch and step onto earth’s closest neighbor.

There was no panel of experts, no animation or simulation. All O’Kelly had was a (very) rough replica of the lunar module and he kept telling us we would get live pictures when the Eagle hatch was opened.

Several of my siblings fell asleep as I did myself. I can only remember one other occasion staying up as a family, which was the Muhammed Ali/Sonny Liston fight some years before.

We were awaken by a shout from our Dad soon after 3.a.m

Kevin O’Kelly had just pronounced that “the hatch was open” and we were about to witness history.

Except that we could see very little. There was a very blurry image of a man descending a few steps onto lunar soil and then the immortal words -- “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” etc. It was arguably America’s greatest moment.

It was history as we had never known it or never will again, Man had reached past his earthly existence and stepped on another world. I rushed outside to look at the moon and imagined all the billions of people who had looked up at earth’s closest neighbor and how tonight was different. The man in the moon, actually the two men on the moon as Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong, had become fact not a children’s fairy tale.

I went back to bed but not to sleep. My boyhood mind was fired by the images and voices I had just seen. I knew the world would never be the same again. It was a turning point in history. I hope today’s young people see the day when a man like Armstrong lands on Mars --- that only seems a matter of time too,

So farewell Neil Armstrong, a brave hero if ever there was one, and thank you for what you gave us ----a moment of history that stopped the world as we knew it and made sure it would never be the same again.

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jacersagain | Aug 27, 2012, 06:38 PM EDT

IrelandNorth asks what time it was in the US of A when the moonwalk began. Officially, Armstrong’s LEM landed on the moon at 20.17.39 hrs UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on July 20th 1969. Armstrong’s left foot touched the moon’s ground about 6 and a half hrs later at 2.56 UTC on July 21st. Now bear with me – UTC is virtually the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, or London time) but since it was in July, the time in London summer time was an hour ahead of GMT, or UTC (my clock says 23.20pm right now but it is 22.20hrs GMT). So if I have my maths right, and EST in NYC is 5 hours behind London, then at 2.56 UTC it was four hours behind London’s true GMT/UTC. That would mean that it was 10.56pm EST on July 20th 1969 when Neil touched his foot to the moon’s surface – but it was 3.56am on July 21st back in Ireland/UK. Another thing – Armstrong’s first words are immortal “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. There was dispute if he said “for man” or “for a man”. In fact, it was the latter, picked up by advanced voice recognition software technology many years later. One more thing – the computer system which handled the event was about 225KB (not MB) in size, about the same as the old Commodore 64 or Atari Games computers. Didn’t the USA do well with that tiny computer package!

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IrelandNorth | Aug 27, 2012, 06:09 AM EDT

Was sorry to hear of the passing of such a great man, a real life 'Luke Skywalker', clearly in possession of "The Right Stuff" (an arthouse American movie which is a splendid treatment of the whole space race well worth watching repeatedly). Can't quite recall seeing the landing live myself, though was aware in my 12 year young adolescent mind that something momentous was taking place by people from a very powerful country to the west. Was finishing national school in Dublin before being packed off to boarding school in New Ross, Co Wexford. Would have preferred being sent to the moon. If Neil Armstrong/Niall Lámhláidir was first man on the moon, film footage must show Buzz Aldrin descending ladder onto lunar surface? And don't forget the important function of 'Michael Collins'(!) circling the block (ie orbiting in the capsule. Many times I've looked up at the moon in awe that men actually went there once, a feat never since surpassed. And who could possibly resist the art/science stupendous beauty of those shots of EarthRise from the moon, the first time humans got an eagle eye view of their voluptuous planet - sans borders! He should be no stranger to heaven, having made a preliminary manouevre in that direction 44 years ago. I for one will take his family's touching request to heart, when I next gaze upon a full moon - think of this unassuming star voyager - and wink. Ar dheis Dei go raibh a h'anam!/May his sould rest on the right hand side of God! PS If Neil considered himself just a nerdy engineer, he made nerdiness (and engineering) super cool!

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IrelandNorth | Aug 27, 2012, 12:56 AM EDT

What was the exact time in the U.S.when the moon walk began ? everybody has it at a different time ??

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lokionline | Aug 26, 2012, 11:47 PM EDT

I was the same age - 16. I stayed up to watch the same B&W RTE program in our Sutton, Co. Dublin sitting room. I did the same thing... I went outside to look at the moon which was clear that night and I remember thinking, like Niall that our relationship with the earth and moon had changed and would never be the same again and that we would never forget the name of Niel Armstrong the first man to set foot on the Moon. It's hard to believe that was 43 year ago.

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llyndsey | Aug 26, 2012, 08:04 PM EDT

I was 8 years old and in Ireland at the time of the landing and I remember about 30 people gathered around the only small black and white TV in the Dublin neighborhood we where we were staying. As the images appeared, an old timer shook his head in wonder saying, "would you credit that now, didja ever think you'd see men walking on the moon (long pause).....feckin' eejits."

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thetint | Aug 26, 2012, 07:23 PM EDT

I've seen Capricorn One!

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CitizenWhy | Aug 26, 2012, 06:33 PM EDT

I remember that day well. I was in Florence, Italy and people kept giving me hugs, and looked so happy. They were congratulating me, but I did not know why. I was out and about and had been paying no attention to the news. Then I learned that I was being embraced because I was an American, andc Americans had just landed on the moon. That was when the US government could manage ma=jor accomplishments beyond war, and there was a sense of the common good in the country. That's all gone now.

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jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 05:30 PM EDT

Yes indeed Messrs Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were great and very brave pioneers (RIP Mr. Armstrong, Slán leat le Dia). Like Niall O’D and others, I remember where I was when Pres Kennedy was assassinated and I remember the night of the moon landing – I was in NYC at that time. I was at work but pleaded w/ my boss to be allowed to leave early to catch the landing originally planned to be televised live and presented on giant screens in Central Park at a pre-announced time. Imagine my rage and disgust when I got to Central Park to find that the landing and Mr. Armstrong’s first step had been brought forward by some four hours!!! I missed seeing the historical moment live. Yes, I remember… and have never forgiven NASA for denying me a live eyeballing of the historical moment. What compensation is NASA gonna give me for that cheating???

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Searlit | Aug 26, 2012, 01:35 PM EDT

A great one has passed - he will always be remembered for his courage, strength, intelligence and humility. He is already familiar with the heavens. Rest in Peace.

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SeamusMor | Aug 26, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT

The moon landing was our finest hour. "If we can land on the moon, we should be able to...." became a cliche. Not everyone believed we did it. On the TV News we saw a group of students outside a high school in Louisiana who speculated that the landing was a hoax, filmed in a studio. One of the young ladies in the group of students clamoring before the camera shouted "I can't even get good reception from New Orleans, how they gonna get from the Moon?"

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Tom Mo | Aug 26, 2012, 12:22 PM EDT

I have a framed picture of the landing in my workshop. The front page of the New York Daily News showing the two poineers and the American Flag. Proud of it. That was 43 years ago. The Daily News cost 8 cants at the time. Tempus fugit.

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Rebelforce | Aug 26, 2012, 11:56 AM EDT

I remember that sunny, summer day too. I was nine years old and my family were vacationing at a rented bungalow on a lake in northwest NJ. My father made us all come in and watch these flickering, grainy pictures on an old black and white TV set. He said this was a historic moment and we should remember it. At the time I would have preferred to be outside catching frogs or fishing for sunnies, but he was right to make us take note of history.

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Rebelforce | Aug 26, 2012, 11:46 AM EDT

In fact, Neil Armstrong was born to Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel. He was of German and Scottish ancestry.

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citizen69 | Aug 26, 2012, 08:19 AM EDT

A great & humble American of Ulster-Scots ancestry. Rest In Peace sir.

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