The Story of 8 Unforgettable Words About Apollo 11

Yards of copy, dozens of pix, not a single black person or woman. How terrible it was back then, and what a short distance we have come.

"Men ..." Not humans. Not people. An achievement of "men." The same year, a room full of aspiring math majors were told at the University of Pennsylvania, "Girls don't make very good math majors." Sometimes words say much more than they appear to say. Sometimes they say exactly what they really mean.

Evocative of a period of time and mood. At the same time evocative - viscerally in the photos - of a time when the world was only thought of in terms of white men. While not detracting from the evident accomplishments, there's a quietly deflating memory of what it felt like as a young adult where women were utterly left out of the big picture.

I was two and a half years old when men landed and walked on the moon. I got goosebumps just reading this article about the original article.

"Men ..." Not humans. Not people. Men landed and men walked. That same year, aspiring math majors in my class at an Ivy League school were told, "Girls don't make very good math majors." First time I ever doubted my ability. Sometimes words say more then it seems. Sometimes words say exactly what they mean.

I was 9 and remember this wonderful achievement. However, Apollo 8 was the most important mission of the Apollo series

As a former science and health reporter, I so appreciate the breakdown and explanation of Wilford's elegantly written "historic" articles about the moon landing. I never wanted to walk on the moon. Just write like him. I'll never stop trying.

Thank you for this. I loved the NYT coverage of the moon landing. I was a 13-year-old kid who rode an airplane for this first time that week (my own small step). I was especially tickled by the correction the NYT printed about its long-ago erroneous statement that rockets could not fly in a vacuum. Also interesting, although I can't find my link to it, is Robert Goddard's widow letter to the NYT saying the correction was unnecessary.

Looking at old TV pictures of Armstrong and Aldrin waiting in their LEM on the moon and the crackly voice of Mission control exchanging drab instructions and procedures on what to do when Armstrong sets foot on the moon and the surprisingly unostentatious and empty (save Cronkite) CBS studio displayed the quiet dignity of that awesome occasion. All Cronkite did as Armstrong walked on the moon was to take his spectacles off, perhaps a tear or two in his eyes.

Slightly off-topic, but this recalls a front-page article I'm certain the NYT ran many years later whose entire first paragraph read: Man Arrested for Jaywalking in New York City. Same number of words (if I got it right), same deceptive simplicity, same journalistic task of conveying the immensity of a hitherto unimaginable moment in human experience. This was during the dark era when Giuliani was Mayor, and I guess the idea of outlawing jaywalking had occurred to him on one of his more extreme control-freak days. Obviously, it was an idea that went nowhere. I wasn't in New York in 1969, and so missed the coverage and this lede the next day. But it's great to read it now, and I love the idea that the Times hired someone in 1965 to "take on the space beat".

great article, thanks but is there a link to the full original text?

I can't find the link to the articles, but at my blog, here's a copy of the correction, the related parts of the original article, and Mrs. Goddard's reaction to the correction: https://bkellysky.wordpress.com/2019/07/18/july-17-1969-the-new-york-times-corrects-an-error/

What’s amazing about this feat of courage and technology is that most of our portable phones today have a thousand times the processing power than the computers of those times. And yet, even today, fifty years later, no advanced country can duplicate what the United States accomplished at that time. Sure, China has landed ‘landers’ that have both crashed and soft-landed on the moon but no Chinese citizen has walked upon the surface. This is what made the United States the greatest nation on earth. Well, this and Seinfeld re-runs.

This is the 50th anniversary of the last really good piece of news about humankind.

My wedding anniversary. Married that Sat. at 2 PM. Watched the moon walk from the first stop on our honeymoon trip. What an auspicious beginning for our now 50 year marriage!

We look back with awe, pride and yearning. (8 words)

Thanks for bringing it all back, this was a time of great people and great accomplishments. The Times was part of our family since I was born, and remains so because of the quality of writing and the veracity of the content. (My uncle was Richard Eder) We watched this at home as it happened with the whole family. It was bittersweet for my dad, an engineer on the lunar module guidance system as he had been laid off with thousands from Grumman.

Great to read that JNW is commenting on this. Read him for years even though I have no particular science background. His stories were always interesting and informative. Thank you,

I wish the article included a current picture of Mr. Wilford. His articles have always, without exception, been an elegant must-read. I’ve wondered what he looks like. Thanks for a marvelous article.

What a great story of old-school journalism. Both space travel and the New York Times were revered by my physicist dad. Thank you!

I was sixteen and had a job scooping ice cream at the Baskin Robbins in a shopping center smack dab on the main intersection of 4th Avenue & 16th Street in Yuma, Arizona. I was the unlucky one who had to work the shift when the landing would happen. But my luck wasn't all bad--I had a small black & white TV I took with me to work so I could watch. Other that those glorious events happening on the moon, my main memory is that there was not a single car anywhere on either of the two main streets. In the huge parking lot of the shopping center, there were only the few cars of other workers like me. Believe me, no one was shopping. My favorite description of a person's reaction to the landing would be in a Lily Tomlin/Jane Marshall piece titled, "Glenna - A Child Of The 60s." If memory serves, it went something like this: "Right now, on the moon, there is a flag and a golf ball. Is this really happening? Or is it the hash?"

What a fascinating look at the art of journalism at its best. Thank you for this extraordinary piece, which was catnip to this news and journalism junkie, and thanks to Mr. Wilford for words that have still pop 50 years later.

Then, I was an eight year old, the daughter of an engineer & librarian. That night fifty years ago we were woken up to watch the action on tv, which was more verbal than visual, I recall. I’ve been hooked ever since, and have seen Cape Canaveral launches for many years. I’m so excited to promote a visit to the Kennedy space center to families who are headed to FL on vacations. I also love the ambiance at the launches. All types of interested and excited folks watch the launches. I wish the us government had kept the shuttle going. Thank you to spacex and other privates for offering opportunities to rocket scientists from around the globe.

A couple of days ago I was reading the Times' coverage of Apollo 11 and wondered how the print story of the landing read, so I looked it up. That lede floored me. Fifty years later the power and simplicity of it were still amazing. Well done, Mr. Wilford.

My parents were celebrating my first birthday when we landed on the moon. To celebrate my 51st, I saw the documentary, Apollo 11, today. Watching the launch on the big screen brought tears to my eyes. It was inspiring to remember what Americans could accomplish when they worked together to solve a problem. And it is sad to think that 50 years later, nothing even remotely close can be achieved.

As an 11-year-old growing up on a farm in rural central Wisconsin in 1969, I don't think I had ever seen a copy of the NY Times. But I was obsessed with space exploration and remember watching the launch, moon landing, and first lunar steps of Apollo 11. Later that summer I bought a paperback copy of Mr Wilford's "We Reach The Moon" and devoured it - it was likely the first "real" book I had ever bought. I think I still have it filed away somewhere. I need to dig it out and relive the experience.