Thats one small step for man. 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 space flight. For the next three hour, we are live from the national air and space museum here in washington, d. C. , where we will talk about apollo 11 historians and michael collins. You want to talk about that day, your impressions of it, 2027488000 and for all others, 2027488001. You can post cspanwj your thoughts and impressions of the 50th anniversary. You can do the same at our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Our show will be based to hear from the national air and space museum. A couple of facts of the apollo 11 mission. It was astronauts Neil Armstrong, buzz aldrin and michael collins, the team for that day and the launch, youll remember took place july 16, 1969, at 9 32, to be exact. The moon landing on july 20, of july 69 at 4 17 in the afternoon. First step by Neil Armstrong at about 10 56 p. M. On july the 20th. Buzz aldrin would follow along about 20 minutes later from that. That mission, when the astronauts left the moon july the 21st of 1969 and returning to earth july 24, 1969. Well talk about the historical significance. Well talk about what it means for space flight today and also as we hear from historian, astronauts and the like well hear from you, too, and you can call and let us know the impressions, 2027488000 and 2027488001. This program is being done today in conjunction with our colleagues with American History tv and if you dont know, cspan3 on the weekends turns into that channel with historical programming, 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 and thats cspan history at facebook. Dom. You can participate on twitter. There is a poll there atcspan history is how you do that and ahtv will give you programming specifically related to apollo 11 and watch that on cspan3. If you go to their website page you can find out all of the programming that they have planned and all of the other information for you specifically not only about apollo 11, but other programming they have, as well. Some interesting facts when it comes to the apollo 11 mission and the things they carried on apollo 11, of course, the astronauts and of course, science experiments and things of the like and some of the other plans and that was on one of the arms of the lunar module and that plaque would have eventually stayed behind on the surface of the moon that carried two large american flags and the flags of the 50 states and the u. S. Territories and flags of certain nations and the United Nations flags, too, and as youve seen pictures of people walking on the moon especially armstrong and aldrin and that came courtesy of a tv camera that went onboard the module as well as other things and well talk about those things over the course of the morning and to hear from you primarily during these three hours as we have a new location, usually were at the washington journal set in d. C. And not too far away from the national air and space museum and theyve hosting us this morning, as well. Jack in rhode island starts us off on impressions for those that watch the moon landing and good morning, thanks for giving us a call. Go ahead. Thank you, and im showing my age because i did watch it with my father who was a little bit older. Hes no longer here. Its not really publicized because its not politically correct. The key people that got us to the moon were the technological geniuses that were driven. Vaughn brown led the project and then it was Arthur Rudolph and then there were a lot of key engineers and scientists from operation paper clip. 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. Nazi germany for all that history what . For all of that history and background, then from the time that you watched it what are your impressions of the apollo 11 mission itself . Extremely successful. Absolutely amazing and it was because primarily because of those men and also, too, those astronauts were absolutely amazing. Their bravery, you know, was astounding and i have to admit im a little proud myself because my ancestry is german, okay . I didnt know a couple of them were nazis, and you know, maybe they did that to protect themselves. Okay. Lets hear from martha. Martha in Virginia Beach also watched the moon landing. Martha, youre next up. Go ahead. Hi. I wanted to thank you all for covering this from the very beginning. My husbands cousin james shea was in charge of that 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 in hindsight maybe there were some corners that were cut and they jumped into the thing too soon and that may have been what happened. Are you talking are you talking about the events of apollo 1 . Is that what youre talking about . Yes. Uhhuh. Thank heavens there was a gentleman on there the other day talking about that from the beginning to this point. So thank you for taking my call and have a good day. Before you go, martha, whats a specific memory do you have about the landing itself or the mission itself . Well, my mother and i were fascinated with it, and she died in 1976. So 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 but i was fascinated with it and i worked as a research chemist, but ive always been fascinated with science of any kind. Thats martha in Virginia Beach, again, giving impressions her impressions of the moon landing. 2027488000 if you have specific rmemories of that time and mark in the bronx, new york on our line for others. Mark, go ahead. Yes. I was in the navy at the time and we were in vietnam and i was on the uss boston, and the displacement and i was on the signal bridge where we did flashing lights, signal flags, and 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 of the flags in it. Once the message is brought to the to the leading petty officer, the call is signal in the air at this point george who was a petty officer at the time being hood up the flags that read usa, 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 onboard. Do you remember anything specific about that . I was on the signal bridge so it was just three of us on the bridge. I dont know what happens happening down below. We had 1200 men on this ship. So i really couldnt answer that. I couldnt tell you. Some of the footage youll remember for those of you who watched the atlantic and 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 and youll 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. Well go to robert in baton rouge, louisiana, to watch the moon landing. Good morning. Good morning. Im glad im watching the program and 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 and 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 coin, the United States mint produced commemorative counties for the 50th landing and theres a historic picture where buzz aldrin, or Neil Armstrong is taking a picture of buzz aldrin and when they when they came out it showed the picture of Neil Armstrong standing andio you can see the module or the lunar module if im correct on that. Anyway, the coin is curved just like the face mask and for those that collect coins, the United States mint had them, and im not trying to sell them, so to speak. Theyre 5 ounces. Theyre beautiful and theyre collector, but on the back side of the coin itself it shows the first footprint, and its unably beautiful. I was im looking at it right now and i wish everybody on tv could see this thing and i ran outside and i am assuming people did that. It still stayed with me today did you watch it with other family and friends or did you watch it by yourself . I watched it with my mother. Mi father wasnt there and he passed away when i was a child, but my two brothers were there, and we were like everybody else, we were glued for three days and of course, Walter Cronkite was unbelievably great in his narrative and it still sits with me today when they landed on the moon, my brothers and i, we were just sitting there and holding our breath like everyone else, i guess, who was watching it and watching Walter Cronkite and take his glasses off and he was smiling. It was a great event. One small step for me, one giant step for mankind. I guess as the years go by this might go down in history, but id like to think that it would go down in history as something that people will truly, and somehow you had to go nat pain past and luckily we had the film of it and everything and kudos to everyone who was a part of this thing especially the technicians and the people who built it. Thats amazing and the engineers. Okay. I think thats robert in baton rouge, i believe, and he talked about Walter Cronkite. It was Walter Cronkite while delivering the updates on the meeting and the lunar module 1 himself that was provided to him and use 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 on 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 of that available to you and dont forget that American History tv and that cspan3 turns into American History on the weekends and you can see a weekend of programming and not only things youre seeing today, but other fulllength feature, as well and go to the website at cspan. Org for more information on that. I believe this is mark from the bronx . I think ive taken that one. So lets go to david in chicago. David in chicago, watched the moon landing. Good morning. Go ahead. Did i 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 40,000 americans, practically all of them american born and educated to put a man to the moon and back. There were about 150 refugee p. O. W. And scientists and these were all american, born talent and right now theres bill going to the senate, s 386 that would entrench labor workers and we talk about what it took to put a man on the moon and back and this was all before the h1b visa and all of the labor dumping started into our technology sectors. So with you think about the american the moon mission and the apollo, i want everybody to remind their senators, their congressmen that we did these two major outbacks in the 20th century and win the cold war before all of this cheap foreign labor dumping started. So when it comes to apollo 11 itself, caller, 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 . Let me tell you something, my father worked on the integral technologies out of the major defense contractor that provided the precision and the 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, and on christmas or thanksgiving to meet a deadline because it 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 thats david in chicago calling, talking about the work aspects of the apollo 11 and the manpower that took place to make it happen, and then its 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, youll 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 and this is from the lunar and Planetary Institute that telling us about 22 kilograms of the man and that translates to roughly about 50 pounds and 50 rocks in toil including the lunar samples and the lunar and Planetary Institutes and two from the earths 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. Yes. Good morning. Youre on. Go ahead. I probably watched it and i was 10 years old, and i dont remember. 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 the head of operation paper clip and i feel proud living in huntsville, alabama, where it all began. Is huntsville tell a major hub when it comes to space issues and i know you have a space museum in huntsville and how much goes on to this day . Oh, not as much space as it is army because its a Redstone Arsenal and its an army base with a Marshal Spaceflight Center and i worked for lockheed in the Marshal Space Flight Center in the past. My dad worked for ibm in 1965 and rocket testing was being done at that point and let me tell you, it was earth shattering to hear those rockets test. But it was cool. As a kid, it was very cool. Thats christy from huntsville and part of the efforts of Lyndon Baines johnson once president kennedy decided he wanted to send a man to the moon to put efforts across the United States to make it happen primarily in the south and huntsville, alabama, being one of those major locations where the work of the Apollo Mission would take place. In fact, you can still see some of the evidence there in the space museum. James in arlington, texas, hi. Good morning. Good morning. Hi. My dad was a Senior Engineer on the Apollo Program. He worked for north american aviation out of southern california. He basically worked on almost anything from the launch escape towers down to the first stage. And how much did you talk about it can you talk about it . How much did you talk about it with you guys at home. 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, vent at the downey facility and the astronauts would be flown in for a ceremony so wed all see them driven by us in the electric car and then wed be allowed to look at the capsules which had been recovered and 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 of the way, well into the 80s, in fact. So i would see the Service Module capsules and eebt ally the mockup of the shuttle and there were a number of things that we were aware of and when i was 10 years old i was taken by my dad to the seal beach facility. My dad worked at downey and i was kind of wondering where we were going to seal beach and they had a big event for the delivery of the lastsecond stable of the saturn 5 which is what they built at seal beach so they opened up the doors on the Assembly Building so im witnessing this massive second stage being rolled out, and its quite an impression on a 10yearold. Are you in the Science Field or anything related because of those impressions or influences . My sister and i both followed my father in engineering. I worked for 11 years until 2009 in shuttle support and support for the International Space station. Originally, i was a Mcdonnell Douglas employee, but we got bought by boeing. My sister got started with north american rockwell and they, too, the assets were bought by boeing and she ended up working with me and shes still working at this time though shes about to retire. We did a recent poll from viewers and reuters in conjunction with reuters and we did a poll taking a look at space issues and one of those things that were found that at the top of the list what people want nasa to do and pursue environmental efforts and lower on the list efforts like going back to the moon and going back to mars. What do you think of that and do you still support this idea of manned space Flight Missions . That caller is gone, but well talk to kathy next from imperial missouri. Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my call. Hi, go ahead. I watched the moon landing. I was 4 years old and i remember it vividly. Every