I remember sitting around our B&W TV watching this on Christmas Eve in 1968. I was a bit less than two months’ shy of my 8th birthday.
If I recall correctly, the broadcast would have been past my bedtime, especially on Christmas Eve, but it was my dad who let me stay up late to watch it with him, and my mom and my older brother.
I also recall being concerned that being up too late might mean that Santa might pass over our house. But my dad told me not to worry and said - “Santa is taking a break right now because he is watching this on TV too. Don’t worry. You’ll be in bed and fast asleep in plenty of time.”
The crew rocketed into orbit on December 21, and after circling the moon 10 times on Christmas Eve, it was time to come home. On Christmas morning, mission control waited anxiously for word that Apollo 8's engine burn to leave lunar orbit had worked. They soon got confirmation when Lovell radioed, "Roger, please be informed there is a Santa Claus."
I remember watching that on TV too, on Christmas morning. And sure enough, there was a Santa! For both the Apollo 8 Astronauts and for me!
My dad was a big proponent and very interested in the space program and encouraged my interest too, and also in oceanography and nature, in all things science and engineering - my dad and I would watch all the Jacques Cousteau specials and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and all and any similar type programs.
I was too young and so I don’t remember the Mercury missions but do remember many, starting sometime with Gemini and watching all the Apollo missions live on TV as much as I could. I recall my dad waking me up at something like 3AM one time so we could watch a Gemini launch on TV together. I also remember watching just about all of the Apollo missions and Apollo 11 and especially the Moon landing live on TV and I remember seeing my dad cry tears of joy and pride, and perhaps, as we all did, with a big sigh of relief and amazement.
My dad had a subscription to National Geographic magazine and just before Apollo 11, they had a big fold out map of the Moon and lots of information on the details of mission that my dad and I would read about together. We also had a big world map.
I remember spreading out the world map in one corner of the living room and the Moon map on the opposite side, perhaps in the dining room.
I had a small model of Apollo 11 space craft that I think might have come in a box of Captain Crunch cereal, including the lunar module. And I would “practice” launching from Cape Canaveral and circling around the world map several times then going to the Moon map and orbing and the separation and then the landing on the Sea of Tranquility then the take off and the docking and the eventual splash down. I even used a carrier and several battle ships that I “borrowed” from my brother’s Battleship game for the splash down.
My dad as I recall, got quite a kick out of seeing me do this.
It was an amazing time to be a witness to such a feat of engineering and American exceptionalism.
I hope that I will be alive to witness a manned Mars landing.
