Dr. Neil Harris was a 15 year old boy living in Edmonton when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon 50 years ago. -- NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
The significance of July 20, 1969 looms large in the memory of a local resident who has carefully preserved mementos of the landing on the moon.
Dr. Neil Harris was a 15 year old boy living in Edmonton with his parents when about 3 a.m. that day he and his brother watched the landing unfold on a back and white television.
They waited eagerly for Neil Armstrong to emerge.
“It was all quite unbelievable,” said Harris. “Humans around two million years and the first time humans touched another celestial body we were lucky enough to see it happen.”
He’s always been interested in science.
“I was fascinated at the technology – to land people on the moon,” said Harris who carefully preserved copies of the local newspaper with the full account plus one three days later when the astronauts safely returned to earth.
Those newspapers were carefully preserved inside another very special memento of the moon landing. Harris ordered, at the time, a beautiful boxed set by Time Life that included a book and six long playing records (LPs) on which the story and background is narrated. He doesn’t remember whether he saved pocket money to buy it or whether his parents helped out.
The LP records have only been played once or twice and include background information of significance.
“I’d like to have these around in another 50 years for my grandkids,” said Harris.
It is also the background stories in the preserved newspapers that are of interest. There are the two young women in mini skirts, highly fashionable at the time, with the caption “Ready for splashdown”, the photo of Walter Cronkite – “Walter’s moon talk endured 31 hours”, a prediction by the military that we would see “spy satellites next”, and an advertisement for a lawnmower called “the Groomer” that was on sale for $134.95. There was even a photo of Armstrong’s mother expressing her “anxious moments” before her son safely landed on the moon.
“Eagle heads for home as Russian craft lands” is the headline on another page. There is a fuzzy image of Armstrong on the moon and his famous words, “One small step for man… one giant leap for mankind”.
Harris remembers the speculation that there was a chance the Russians would reach the moon before America – perhaps even keep it a secret until Apollo landed. It all added to the excitement and sense of anticipation.
When the astronauts had safely returned to earth there were still concerns about the possible health issues the astronauts faced but they were soon put to rest.
The Associated Press recently reported that Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, knowing they would walk on the moon, had prepared with courses in geology at the Grand Canyon. They studied moon mapping at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff where Pluto was discovered and peered at their eventual destination through telescopes at various northern Arizona sites.
The region’s role in moon missions is credited to former Geological Survey scientist Gene Shoemaker, who moved the agency’s astrogeology branch to Flagstaff in 1963. It wasn’t long before Shoemaker guided Armstrong and Aldrin on hikes at Meteor Crater as he pushed to ensure NASA would include geology in lunar exploration.
For Harris there is the expectation of more to come in science and the pleasure of knowing his grandchildren will look at the keepsakes he has carefully preserved from 1969.
