Author Topic: First manned launch you remember watching? (Read 1991 times)

Unisaw · « **on:** May 29, 2020, 05:35:42 PM »

What is the first launch of a manned US spacecraft that you remember watching (including on TV)? The first I remember watching was Alan Shepard in Freedom 7, the first manned launch of the Mercury program. It lasted all of 15 minutes and 28 seconds, but I can't imagine the courage it took to be the first American in space.

RocketMan · « **Reply #1 on:** May 29, 2020, 05:40:02 PM »

Alan Shepard's flight is the one I first remember. My mother used to get me up early before school to watch all the Mercury flights when I was a little kid.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #2 on:** May 29, 2020, 05:43:19 PM »

I don't really remember much from before the later Apollo missions, 10 and beyond. I mostly remember all the Apollo launches and the Apollo/Soyuz and Skylab, I was a big space geek back then.
The first shuttle launch I ever got to catch live was January 28th, 1986.
I never tried to watch another one.

French G. · « **Reply #3 on:** May 29, 2020, 05:45:21 PM »

The giant metal TV cart and some early 80s shuttle launch. I don't think there was anything for me born in 1975 before the shuttle came along.

dogmush · « **Reply #4 on:** May 29, 2020, 05:58:54 PM »

The first one I remember was the Challenger.

My parents tell me we had watched previous launches, but I don't remember them.

lee n. field · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2020, 06:26:12 PM »

Quote from: Unisaw on May 29, 2020, 05:35:42 PM

What is the first launch of a manned US spacecraft that you remember watching (including on TV)? The first I remember watching was Alan Shepard in Freedom 7, the first manned launch of the Mercury program. It lasted all of 15 minutes and 28 seconds, but I can't imagine the courage it took to be the first American in space.

We didn't have a TV until '62 or so, so later than that. Don't remember exactly.

BlueStarLizzard · « **Reply #6 on:** May 29, 2020, 06:39:32 PM »

Too be honest, none of them that I can remember. For large periods during the late 80's and early 90's, we didn't have a TV.
I remember watching Waco at home with Dad and I think we watched some stuff with Desert Storm at school, but that period and current events aired on TV I pretty much missed everything.

WLJ · « **Reply #7 on:** May 29, 2020, 07:36:22 PM »

Apollo 11
I was 5

griz · « **Reply #8 on:** May 29, 2020, 08:05:45 PM »

When I was in Kindergarten the first astronauts were training at NASA Langley and John Glen visited our (and others I'm sure) class since it was local. The first launch I remember seeing was the Gemini flights in 1965. We watched the first "space walk" and that was a very big deal. I don't remember seeing earlier ones but being in a military family we were in Japan about then so wouldn't have been awake when they were happening. I'll stop before I start telling you whipper snappers about the days before VCRs.

Hawkmoon · « **Reply #9 on:** May 29, 2020, 08:43:32 PM »

Yuri Gagarin -- but it wasn't a live broadcast.

bedlamite · « **Reply #10 on:** May 29, 2020, 08:45:42 PM »

Columbia, STS-1

zxcvbob · « **Reply #11 on:** May 29, 2020, 09:08:15 PM »

I remember Apollo 11 well. Only vaguely remember the ones before that.

Unisaw · « **Reply #12 on:** May 29, 2020, 09:16:17 PM »

Quote from: RocketMan on May 29, 2020, 05:40:02 PM

Alan Shepard's flight is the one I first remember. My mother used to get me up early before school to watch all the Mercury flights when I was a little kid.

Okay, we have now established that Rocketman and I are as old as dirt.

Ben · « **Reply #13 on:** May 29, 2020, 10:39:21 PM »

I'm not sure I remember. I know I watched Apollo 7 and later. My parents might have sat me in front of the TV for Gemini, but I have no recollection.

charby · « **Reply #14 on:** May 30, 2020, 12:56:34 AM »

Quote from: bedlamite on May 29, 2020, 08:45:42 PM

Columbia, STS-1

Same

HeroHog · « **Reply #15 on:** May 30, 2020, 01:11:40 AM »

Pre Apollo but can't say exactly

AmbulanceDriver · « **Reply #16 on:** May 30, 2020, 01:59:45 AM »

Quote from: dogmush on May 29, 2020, 05:58:54 PM

The first one I remember was the Challenger.

My parents tell me we had watched previous launches, but I don't remember them.

Same for me.

MechAg94 · « **Reply #17 on:** May 30, 2020, 03:03:23 PM »

I don't remember if it was the first shuttle launch, but in the early 80's, my elementary school pulled everyone into auditorium or cafeteria to watch it.

HankB · « **Reply #18 on:** May 30, 2020, 03:05:27 PM »

The first one I really remember was Apollo 11, since we were having a family vacation in Florida at the time, staying at my cousin's hotel in Winterhaven. We watched the lift-off on TV, then went outside and soon saw the flame of the Saturn V rising in the distance.

With binoculars - and perhaps a little bit of imagination - I convinced myself I could make out a tiny black dot at the apex of the plume - the rocket itself.

That was history - and IMHO, one of mankind's greatest achievements.

Boomhauer · « **Reply #19 on:** May 30, 2020, 03:49:41 PM »

Saw STS-84 in person when I was 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-84. It was amazing. After the launch we toured KSC including Cape Canaveral it was fascinating.

Saw a couple launches on TV before that but I don’t remember much about them

Dad saw Apollo 11 on TV.

Doggy Daddy · « **Reply #20 on:** May 30, 2020, 09:00:49 PM »

Slight veer: How about a landing? Some friends and I went to Edwards in the Early 80s to see the Shuttle come in. Went the day before, camped out for the early landing. Beautiful!

Can't swear this was the one, but odds are pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_IN2zO17H8

Big Hairy Bee · « **Reply #21 on:** May 30, 2020, 09:25:18 PM »

I want to say Apollo 11. My parents tell me we all watched it, but I was three at the time. Big time space nerd since then. The good part of living outside Houston for a time was being able to visit the Johnson Space Center as a kid quite a few times. Saw shuttle Enterprise with the 747 land during early testing. Loved watching today--kept laughing at the Bob and Doug references as I thought of SCTV. Needed someone to say "Take off, you hosers!"

Andiron · « **Reply #22 on:** May 30, 2020, 10:54:49 PM »

Quote from: Big Hairy Bee on May 30, 2020, 09:25:18 PM

I want to say Apollo 11. My parents tell me we all watched it, but I was three at the time. Big time space nerd since then. The good part of living outside Houston for a time was being able to visit the Johnson Space Center as a kid quite a few times. Saw shuttle Enterprise with the 747 land during early testing. Loved watching today--kept laughing at the Bob and Doug references as I thought of SCTV. Needed someone to say "Take off, you hosers!"

Hah. You called it. Every time they mentioned "Bob and Doug", I giggled a bit.

kgbsquirrel · « **Reply #23 on:** May 31, 2020, 01:47:37 AM »

Sadly, I don't really remember.

HankB · « **Reply #24 on:** May 31, 2020, 04:50:38 PM »

Quote from: Doggy Daddy on May 30, 2020, 09:00:49 PM

Slight veer: How about a landing? Some friends and I went to Edwards in the Early 80s to see the Shuttle come in. Went the day before, camped out for the early landing. Beautiful!

Can't swear this was the one, but odds are pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_IN2zO17H8

Living in Central Texas, I saw a couple of night re-entries of the shuttle. Bright, lingering, orange arc across the sky - MUCH more spectacular than any meteor that I ever saw. (Of course, I wasn't in Chelyabinsk back on 02/15/2013.

)

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Author Topic: First manned launch you remember watching? (Read 1991 times)