An Apollo 11 weekend sale; a national contest to guess the exact moon landing time, and a moon “holiday” — America’s fascination with the lunar mission was out of this world 50 years ago.
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin stepped onto the moon on July 20, 1969 as the world watched by television from 240,000 miles away.
The Daily Item along with newspapers around the globe gauged reactions from readers mesmerized by grainy images of the astronauts bouncing around in their bulky spacesuits with Earth a blue orb in the background.
Speaking to an Item reporter, Swampscott attorney Malcolm F. MacLean Jr. proclaimed the moon landing “a major achievement in helping man to understand the universe.”
But Pat Roberts of Lynn opined that the space race culminating with the moon land was “wrong.” Roberts said money spent by America on the lunar missions would be better spent on feeding the world and educating the poor.
Armstrong’s step onto the moon and his words that followed it — “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” — capped off a week of watching and waiting for everyone back on earth.
People around the country, including 300 Greater Lynn residents, competed in a contest to guess when the lunar module would reach the moon (Armstrong and Aldrin landed on July 20 at 4:18 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Armstrong stepped onto the moon at 10:56 p.m.).
Moonstruck members of congress introduced a resolution declaring July 20 “Apollo 11 Day,” and former Peabody Mayor Nicholas Mavroules took a cue from President Richard Nixon and declared Monday, July 21, 1969 as “moon” Monday giving city workers the day off and reveling in former Gov. Francis Sargent’s proclamation making the day a one-time state holiday.
The former Blue Dolphin restaurant on the Lynnway (“the hottest air conditioned lounge in town”) celebrated “Apollo 11 weekend” with all-you-can-eat steamers and corn on the cob. Price: 11 cents.
The moon landing and subsequent moon walks by Aldrin and Armstrong (command module pilot Michael Collins orbited the moon while his comrades explored it) were reasons to celebrate for General Electric, including the River Works.
GE technology included computers monitoring the giant Saturn V rocket engines that shot the astronauts into outer space. The space suit helmet visors and silicone rubber moon boot soles were GE innovations.
NASA administrator Thomas O. Paine, who led the agency during the first moon landing, previously worked for GE, according to history gathered by River Works spokesman Richard Gorham.
Four years before Apollo 11 launched, Lynn River Works technology helped power the Gemini 5 spacecraft with the fuel cell not only producing electricity, but also generating drinkable water.
When all was said and done and the astronauts were headed back to Earth on July 21, the Item published an editorial praising the moon mission and noting how it, “… lifted quarrelsome and distraught mankind out of its petty, mundane concerns for at least a few hours.”
Lynn resident Mike Ozoonina put it a different way when asked by the Item to comment on the moon mission.
“Now we know for sure that the moon isn’t made of cheese,” he said.
