I missed that experince.. I was born a few months after Apollo 13. Here is hoping that we get Elon's Starship, The SLS, and Blue Origin New Glenn rockets.
@kevindavisMe too.
I was born in '61 so I don't remember any of the Mercury missions but do remember watching some of the later Gemini launches and just about all the Apollo launches, either at home or at school. My dad was a huge fan of the US space program and we'd often watch the launches and coverage together and he encouraged my interest in and love of science. I remember watching the Apollo 11 Moon landing live on TV and my dad crying tears of joy, an achievement he had dreamed about as a child and was so amazed he had lived to see it.
I also remember the Christmas Eve Apollo 8 broadcast – Jim Lovell was the command module pilot on Apollo 8. I was allowed to stay up late by my dad (IIRC it was broadcast around 9:30 PM EST, past my normal bed time and especially late to be up on Christmas Eve) and in spite my mother wanting me to go to bed and as a 7-year-old being concerned about what might happen if Santa came while I was still awake, my dad assured me (and my mom) that Santa was probably watching the live broadcast too and assured us both that I’d be in bed in plenty of time.
I also remember Apollo 13, remember when the news broke of Apollo 13’s problem and all of us being glued to the TV for days and praying.
Say what you will about Ron Howard’s politics and or Tom Hanks’ (although as an actor I do love him), the move Apollo 13 did a great job IMO. Yes, there were a few minor inaccuracies and some dialogue and such added for artistic and dramatic license but overall quite accurate. But the launch sequence was amazing. I also liked that there weren’t any politically correct depictions of the makeup of the control room – nothing but nerdy and highly competent chain smoking, coffee drinking white guys in their white shirts and ties.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-JdqHxqkHA&t=16sIf anyone is interested, a Brit, Nick Hodges has a YouTube channel - “History Buffs in which he reviews historically based movies for historical accuracy and IMO does an excellent job. Here is his review of the movie Apollo 13. It’s long and the first half is historical background but worth the watch especially the 2nd half when the film review starts and the last quarter were he goes into some of the historical inaccuracies. But overall he still loves the film.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjCOMJDULaE