Neil Armstrong’s historic words could be heard via radios and television sets throughout the world when first set foot on the moon precisely 40 years ago. We know how important the moon landing was for science and technology, but how did the people back on earth view the lunar mission? Where were we, and what did we think of it?
At Radio Netherlands Worldwide we are in an enviable position to cover the story, with language departments full of people from all around the world.
Bari Muchtar from our Indonesian department says he followed the Apollo 11 landing intently on the radio in Indonesia. The mission caused controversy because, “in the Qur’an, it says that a man can’t go to the moon without Allah’s permission.” The row soon fizzled out after wise clerics simply explained that “the astronaut must have had permission”.
Unbelievable moment
José Zepeda from our Latin American department was already working as a journalist in Chile. He has this to say about the moon landing on 20 July 1969:
“I was 19 and working at a small radio station in the north. It was an unbelievable moment, a wonder. We thought: this is not possible, it’s just not happening. I think we covered the amazing story for at least two or three days.
Ann Reef works for the English department and comes from Australia, describing herself as a ‘true daughter of the outback’. She saw the television broadcast at a village hall where her school class was allowed to watch the event. At the time, she was more excited about watching television than about the actual moon landing, but she soon realised what all the fuss was about when she saw how excited her parents were.
Disbelief
In many parts of the world, the news was greeted with amazement and even with disbelief. In Sudan, the strictly religious and illiterate mother of Mohammed Abdulrachman from our Arabic department had nothing good to say about the news of a man on the moon.
“That’s bullshit”, she said.
As far as that sort of reaction goes, the Dutch cannot feel superior because as Sirtjo Koolhof remembers:
“Well, the moon was definitely in the same direction as heaven, so whether this should really be allowed… I remember one of my uncles, who lived in the Dutch Bible Belt, attended a strictly Calvinist church which nowadays you could safely describe as fundamentalist. He lived for years after the event, but never believed it had really happened.”
Great achievement
For most people, however, the lunar mission was a really great achievement, not just for the Americans, but for the whole of humanity. From that perspective, “a giant leap for mankind” was a superlative choice of words.
All our RNW eyewitnesses agree about one thing. Whatever else you can say about it, man’s first landing on the moon was the media event of the century.
Photos: Wikipedia Commons
Where were you on 20 July 1969? How did you experience man’s first step on the moon? You can tell us your story here.
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