One giant leap for mankind. On this 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing todays washington journal in conjunction with cspans American History tv will focus on this historic event and its influence on modern spaceflight. For the next three hours we are live from the national air and space museum here in washington, d. C. Where we will talk about apollo 11 with historians, command module pilot Michael Collins and you. You can call us and let us know your impressions of apollo 11 if you watched the moon landing and you want to talk about that day, your impressions of it, 2027488000 and for all others, 2027488001. You can post cspan wj your thoughts and impressions of the 50th anniversary, do the same at our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Our show will be based here from the national air and space museum. A couple facts about the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 mission, it was astronauts Neil Armstrong, buzz aldrin and Michael Collins, the team for that day. The launch you will remember took place july 16th, 1969 at about 9 30 in the morning, 9 32 to be exact. The moon landing on july 20th in july of 69, that at 4 17 in the afternoon. The first step by Neil Armstrong at about 10 56 p. M. On july 20th. Buzz aldrin would follow along about 20 minutes later from that. That mission when the astronauts left the moon july 21st of 1969 and returning to earth back on july 24th, 1969. We will talk about the historical significance, we will talk about what it means for spaceflight today and also as we hear from historians and astronauts and the like, we will hear from you, too, and you can call and let us know those impressions. If you watched the moon landing 2027488,000. 2027488001 for all others this morning. This program is being done today in conjunction with our colleagues at American History tv. If you dont know cspan 3 on the weekends turns into that channel with historical programming, interviews, lectures and the like and also they have a way of talking to you about the 50th anniversary. You can if you want to share your impressions on their specific facebook, thats cspan history at facebook. Com. You can talk about the apollo 11 mission, you can participate on twitter, there is a poll there cspanhistory is how you do that. And ahtv all weekend long will give you programming specifically related to apollo 11 and you can watch that on cspan 3. Go to our website at cspan. Org. If you go to their website page you can find out all the programming that they have planned and all the other information for you specifically not only about apollo 11, but other programming they have as well. So a lot of interesting facts when it comes to the apollo 11 mission, the things they carried on apollo 11. Of course, the astronauts, of course, science experiments and things of the like, but some of the other things they carried as well, a plaque commemorating the landing, that was on one of the arms of the lunar modules, that plaque would eventually stay behind on the surface of the foon moon. They carried two large American Flags, also flags of certain nations and the United Nations flags, too. As youve seen pictures of people walking on the moon, especially armstrong and aldrin, that came courtesy of a tv camera that went on board the module as well along with other things. We will talk about those things in the course of the morning, but, again, to hear from you primarily during this three hours as we have a new location usually we are at our washington journal set here in d. C. , not too far away from the national air and space museum but theyre hosting us this morning as well. Jack in rhode island starts us off this morning on impressions for those who watched the moon landing. Jack, good morning, thanks for giving us a call. Go ahead. Caller thank you. And im showing my age because i did watch it with my father who was a little bit older, he is no longer here. Now, whats not really publicized because its not politically correct, the key people that got us to the moon were the technological geniuses that were germans. Okay. Von brown leaded the project. Okay. Then there was also Arthur Rudolph and then there were a lot of key engineers and scientists from operation paperclip. They were german scientists and german engineers that the u. S. Government let in after world war ii because they wanted their expertise in rocket engineering. For all that history caller what . For all that history and background, then, from the time that you watched it what are your impressions of the apollo 11 mission itself . Caller extremely successful. Absolutely amazing and it was because primarily of those men, but also, too, those astronauts were absolutely amazing. Their bravery, you know, was astounding and i have to admit, you know, im a little proud myself because my ancestry is german. Okay . Those german guys a couple of those were nazis and, you know, maybe they did that to protect themselves, but okay. Lets hear from lets hear from martha. Martha in Virginia Beach also watched the moon landing. Youre next. Go ahead. Caller hi. I wanted to thank you all for covering this from the very beginning. My husbands cousin james shea was in charge of an unfortunate accident where they burned before they even got out of space and a lot of pressure was put on them at that time to hurry up, we have to beat the russians. So i think that in hindsight maybe that there was some corners that were cut and they just jumped into the thing too soon and that may have been what happened. But ive been fascinated are you talking about the events of apollo 1 . Is that what youre talking about . Caller yes. Uhhuh. But thank heavens there was a gentleman on there the other day talking about that, you know, from the beginning to this point. So thank you for taking my call. Have a good day. Well, before you go, martha, whats a specific memory do you have about the landing itself or the mission itself . Caller well, my mother and i were fascinated with it and she died in 1976, but we sat up there at night and watched that thing, watched it go on. My husband had to go to sleep because he had to go to work the next day, but anyway so anyway but thats how you know, i was fascinated with t i worked as a Research Chemist but ive always been fascinated in science of any kind. Thats mar a that . Virginia beach, again, giving impressions on her impressions of the moon landing. 2027488000 if you want to call and you have specific memories of that time and you want to relate that. Its 2027488001. Mark in the bronx, new york, on our line for others. Mark, go ahead. Caller yes. I was in the navy at the time and we were in vietnam. I was on the u. S. S. Boston, 700 feet, 2800 ton displacement, tourettes up front. I was on the signal bridge where we did flashing lights and signal flags. When the word came from the bridge, it was during the day there and when the word came from the bridge the call goes out that says stand by your bag, meaning the signal bag with all the flags in it. Once the message is brought to you leading petty officer, the call is signal in the air at which point george pavinski who was a petty officer at the time hooked up the flags that read u. S. A. Man on the moon and then we hoisted it up to the yard arm. At the same time the captains gig was dropped over the side with a photographer on it who took pictures of the ship with the flags up. And that was it. Thats what we did. What was the reaction for those on board . Do you remember anything specific about that . Caller i was on the signal bridge so it was just three of us on the bridge. I dont know what was happening down below. You know, we had 1,200 men on the ship so i really couldnt answer that. I couldnt tell you. Some of the footage you will remember for those of you who watched the atlantic not only here in the United States specifically but worldwide, people in other countries and reacting to it as well. In fact, if you go to nasa and you see footage, you will see various images and pictures of people watching all over the world as this one event that took place in space became the fascination of the whole world. We will go to robert in baton rouge, louisiana, watched the moon landing. Good morning. Caller hey, good morning. Im glad im watching your program. I was 18 years old and i saw it on tv like most people. Amazing. Its still impressive today. I have an older son or a younger son, he cant really appreciate it as much as i try to tell him about it, but im a big fan of apollo 50 but what i have in my hand for those who collect coins, the United States mint produced a commemorative coin for the 50th landing and theres a historic picture where buzz aldrin i mean, excuse me, Neil Armstrong is taking a picture of buzz aldrin and the and when they when the films came out it showed the picture of Neil Armstrong standing, you see the Lunar Landing and the module i mean, the lunar module, if im correct on that. But anyway the coin is curved just like the facemask. The United States mint they had these and im not trying to sell them so to speak, theyre 5 ounces, theyre beautiful, theyre collectors, but on the backside of the coin itself it shows the first footprint and its unbelievably beautiful and it was pressed by the United States im looking at it now, i wish everybody on the tv could see this thing. Like most people i ran outside and looked at the moon to see if i could see them landing, im assuming a lot of people did that. It still stays with me today. Its one of those historic moments that grabs you. Did you watch it did you watch it with other family an friends or did you watch it by yourself . Caller i watched it with my mother, my father wasnt there, he passed away while i was a child, but my two brothers were there. I guess i can say like everybody else we were glued to the tv, you know, for three days when they would come back and forth. Of course, Walter Cronkite was unbelievably great on his narrative. When they landed on the moon my brothers and i we were just sitting there and of course holding our breath like everyone else i guess who was watching it and watching Walter Cronkite take his glasses on and he was smiling. So it was a great event. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, its really impressive. I guess as the years go by this may go down in history, but i would like to think that it will go down in history as something that people will truly to be able to go back in the past and be there. Luckily we had film of it and everything. Kudos to everyone who was part of this thing, especially the technicians and the people who built it. Thats amazing. The engineers. Okay. Thats i think thats thats robert in baton rouge, i believe, and he talked about Walter Cronkite, you will remember for those of you who watched on that day, it was Walter Cronkite while delivering the updates on the mission had a model of the lunar 1 himself that was provided to him and used that to demonstrate what was going on with the various parts of the flight. Again, these are historical images that you can find online and nasa as we tell the story of this 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 mission. You can join in the conversation, you can post on our Facebook Page, you can also post on American Historys Facebook Page as well. All that available to you. Dont forget that American History tv thats cspan 3, it turns into American History tv on the weekends, you can see a weekend of programming not only things youre seeing today, but other full length features as well. Go to our website at cspan. Org for more information on that. I believe this is mark from the bronx. I think ive taken that one. Lets go to lets go to david in chicago. David in chicago watched the moon landing. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller i did watch the moon landing i was just a kid just out of grade school and i remember it very well. But i want to talk about the fact that it took about 400,000 americans practically all the american born and educated to put a man to the moon and back. There were about 150 german refugee pow scientists, but this was all american made, american born talent and right now theres a bill going to the senate, s386, that would further entrench a lot of Foreign Workers into our labor force. When we think about what it took to put a man on the moon and back and win the cold war, this is all before the h1b visa and all the labor dumping started into our technology sectors. So when you think about the american the moon mission and the apollo, i want everybody to remind their senators and their congressmen that we did these two major apex in the 20th century, winning the cold war, sending a man to the moon and back before all this cheap foreign labor dumping started, particularly in the so when it comes to apollo 11 itself, caller, then, were you one of those during the time when the mission was announced and it was going on, were you a big supporter of the mission itself or did you have skepticism about it . Caller let me tell you something, my father worked on the integral technologies out of a major defense contractor that provided the precision trajectory technologies that sent a man to the moon and back and also for the multiple nuclear deterrents. It was in my family. And my father worked so many hours overtime during the 1960s. They even paid triple time back then on holidays that if you went in on a christmas or thanksgiving to meet a deadline because there was such a rush to meet these deadlines before the end of the decade that they would pay triple time. Companies dont do that anymore. They dont take care of their people like that. Okay. Thats david in chicago calling talking about the work aspects of the apollo 11 and the manpower that took place to make it happen. That is just one of the variety of things that you can talk about during the course of our morning. When it comes to the things that were taken from the moon, you will remember that part of the purpose of the moon mission was to take samples from the surface of the moon and those samples still being analyzed and looked at today. This is from the lunar and Planetary Institute telling us about 22 kilograms of material taken from the surface of the moon, i think that translates to roughly about 50 pounds. 50 rocks in total including the lunar soil samples and then the lunar and Planetary Institute tells us that two tubes of material from the moons surface is also taken from that. So thats just, again, some of the purposes of the mission and the things taken and brought back to earth from the efforts of apollo 11. This is christy from huntsville. Christy, good morning. Caller yes. Good morning. Youre on. Go ahead. Caller i probably watched it, but i was only ten years old, i dont remember if i did, but i probably did, but what i do remember is i live in huntsville where it all began and i used to hear the rocket tests and it was amazing. I still hear rocket tests out there on the arsenal. My good friend, her grandfather was a head of operation paperclip and i just feel proud living in huntsville, alabama, where it all began. Is huntsville still a major hub when it comes to space issues . I know you have a space museum out there in huntsville itself, but how much work of space still goes on to this day . Caller oh, its still not as much space as it is army because its a Red Stone Arsenal so its an army base as well as Marshall Spaceflight Center. And i worked for lockheed in Marshall Spaceflight Center in the past, but my dad was with ibm, we got transferred to huntsville in 1965 and, you know, rocket testing was being done at that point, and let me tell you, it was earthshattering to hear those rockets test. Baugh it was cool. It was caller as a kid, it was very cool. Thats christy from huntsville. Part of the efforts of linden banes johnson once president kennedy decided he wanted to send a man to the moon to put efforts across the United States to make that happen, primarily in the south, huntsville, alabama, being one of those major locations where work of the Apollo Mission would take place. In fact, you can still see some of the evidence there at that space museum. James in arlington, texas, hi, good morning. Caller good morning. Hi. Caller my dad my dad was a Senior Engineer on the Apollo Program. He worked for north american aviation now in southern california. He basically worked on almost anything from the launch escape towers down to the first stage. And how much did he talk about it caller can you hear me . Oh, yeah, youre on. How much did he talk about it with you guys at home. Caller well, technically there are certain things he didnt talk about but at the same time such as when apollo 7, apollo 8, 9, 10 for that matter, when they returned to earth we had a big event at the downey facility and the astronauts would be flown in for a ceremony, so we would all see them be driven by us in an electric cart and then we would be allowed to look at the capsules which had been recovered and been saved. So we had what we called the dei room which had a lot of exhibits in it and people would once a year get a chance to see that. All the way well into the 80s, in fact. So i would see the surface module, capsules, eventually the mock up of the shuttle, you know. There were a number of things that we were aware of. And when i was ten years old i was taken by my dad to the seal beach facility, my dad worked at downey so i was kind of wondering where we were going to seal beach and they had a big event there for the delivery of the last second stage for the saturn 5, which is what they built at the seal beach. So they opened up the doors on the assembly building, so im witnessing this massive second