LETTER: Moon memories

By Valerie Sawders Las Vegas

5 years ago

Este detalle de una foto del 20 de julio de 1969 hecha por la NASA muestra al astronauta Neil A ... — Este detalle de una foto del 20 de julio de 1969 hecha por la NASA muestra al astronauta Neil Armstrong reflejado en el visor del casco de Buzz Aldrin en la superficie de la luna. Los astronautas tenían una cámara montada en la parte delantera de sus trajes, según la Asociación de Investigaciones Espaciales de las Universidades. Así que en lugar de acercar la cámara a su ojo, como estamos acostumbrados, Armstrong habría tomado las fotos cerca de su pecho, que es donde las manos de Armstrong parecen estar en su reflejo. (Neil Armstrong / NASA a través de AP)

All the talk of the moon landing reminds me of something that happened that I still get a chuckle out of. My family arrived in Las Vegas from England in 1968. On July 20, 1969, I needed to make a call to England. I had to go through the operators, both here and in England.

I got through to the operator in America but had a lot of difficulty getting any satisfaction on the English side of the conversation. At last I connected with her and asked what the difficulty was. She was laughing so much it was hard to understand her, but finally she said, “It’s those Americans. Every time they land a man on the moon, the whole world watches and everything goes to blazes. Aren’t you watching it?”

It was then it dawned on me what an achievement this was and how the rest of the world viewed it. Hurrah for those three brave men.