Moon-Landing Memories

Whenever actor Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden was outsmarted by his wife, Alice, on “The Honeymooners” television show, he would tell her: “Bang, zoom! You’re going to the moon!”

Traveling to the moon once seemed an impossible feat until the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins made the dream a reality. The first manned trip to the moon occurred fifty years ago on July 20, 1969.

As Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, he told an estimated 530 million people back home on earth he was taking “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Three Sun City Huntley residents recalled what they were doing at the time of the Apollo 11 mission.

Kevin Galloway worked as an airplane pilot for 39 years. He flew airplanes for Eastern Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines.

He was 14 years old and living in Lake George, New York, on the day the lunar module landed on the moon. Galloway watched the event unfold as he and his family gathered around the television set in the living room.

“I purchased all the newspapers and magazines that carried information about it,” Galloway said. “I still have them. I have read several books about Apollo 11 since I retired. There was a lot of technology that came about due to the space program such as imaging for diagnosing diseases and pens that can write while held upside down.”

Children at that time wanted to experience what it was like to survive inside a space capsule. They wanted to eat and drink the kind of meals astronauts consumed during their journey.

“I remember drinking Tang,” Galloway said. “I also talked my mother into buying Space Food Sticks.”

Sun City Huntley resident Joe Quinn said he was involved in the space program.

“Much of what I worked on ranged from capsule retrieval to satellite tracking and the selling of parts used in the space program,” Quinn said.

The events of Apollo 11 took place while Quinn was finishing graduate school.

“My first child was also born on July 4 of that year,” Quinn said. “In short, while I was in touch with the space program in many ways, there is little I can specifically note about Apollo 11.”

Sun City Huntley resident Ken Kozy said he was 28 years old during the first manned trip to the moon. He listened to the worldwide radio broadcast while programming a computer at a client’s work site.

“Before they stepped out on the moon, Aldrin ate the first food on the moon,” Kozy said. “During their scheduled rest period, he had a short, private, non-broadcast time during which he took out from his personal pack a small piece of communion bread and some wine. He asked permission from Commander Armstrong, who said it was okay with him. Aldrin poured drops of the wine into a tiny chalice. He consumed both as he said a private prayer of praise to God and thanksgiving for their safe travel.”

“The way I look at it,” Kozy said, “many miracles occurred during the mission. First one was when they landed, there were only 30 seconds of fuel left. Armstrong had to land the spacecraft by taking over the controls himself because they could not find a safe landing site. Whew!”

“The second miracle occurred when Aldrin fixed a switch they accidentally broke when they returned to the spacecraft. Without that switch, they would have been marooned on the moon. When all else failed, Aldrin jammed a ballpoint pen into it to make it function. It worked.”

“The Apollo 11 mission lasted eight days, retrieved over 47 pounds of lunar rocks and dust, performed experiments and procedures, and fulfilled our goal of sending men to the moon and safely returning them before the end of the decade. That was the national goal initiated by President Kennedy back in 1961.”

Kozy, his wife, Mary, and Mary’s guide dog, Regina, viewed the Apollo 11 capsule at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry when they attended a Sun City Huntley bus trip to the museum in 2008.

Kozy, Galloway, and other Sun City Huntley residents will attend the Huntley Area Public Library’s Apollo 11 anniversary program for people ages 55 and up beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 15.

Historian Jim Gibbons will discuss the space goal proposed by President Kennedy in 1961 and how it was fulfilled in 1969. He will also talk about the moon walk and how this launched an important part of American history. Registration for the 90-minute program is required.

For more information, contact the library at 847-669-5386.

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