Elaine Raines has been the librarian at the Arizona Daily Star for almost 30 years. While she does not claim to be a historian, she does have access to a treasure trove of great historical information.
"Tales from the Morgue" is a way to share some of that information with readers.
If you have an idea for a tale from Tucson's past that you would like to share, please e-mail morguetales@ azstarnet.com.
On July 20, 1969 many people in Tucson, like millions throughout the world, were glued to their televisions and radios when the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the moon. Here is a look back at how some of them spent the day.
Two specialists from the UA Lunar and PLanetary Laboratory were in Houston at the Space Center. Ewen A. Whitaker, widely know for his lunar mapping work, and Robert G. Strom, a specialist on lunar geology, would be assisting NASA pinpoint the exact landing site of the astronauts.
“We will try to find the exact site in the Sea of Tranquility where the spacecraft touches down by correlating the television panorama the astronauts send back with photographs of the area,” Whitaker said.
1969 Star files The Apollo 11 crew
The director of the LPL, Gerald Kuiper, was in Flagstaff to watch the event from the U.S. Geological Survey’s astrogeology center.
The Tucson Citizen reported about 50 students crowded around a tv set in the Student Union. Most of them stared at the screen, but one viewer slept through the event.
1969 Star files The Apollo missions
At the Statler-Hilton Inn, most of the cast of television’s “High Chaparral” watched from the bar. One cowboy drawled “this makes our show look like peanuts.”
Soldiers at Fort Huachuca were responsible for the auxillary communications between tracking stations around the world. They also would beam live television coverage to Alaska, since they did not have the equipment to transmit live programs.
For the launch of Apollo 11, two Tucsonans were the personal guests of the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Houston. J. Blanton Belk, chairman of the board and president of Up With People, Inc., and Donald P. Birdsall, executive vice president and treasurer.
1969 Star files The lunar module
And Ruby Zweitel was the local winner of the Man on the Moon contest, co-sponsored by the Star. She came the closest to correctly guessing the time that Neil Armstrong would first step on the moon. Her prize was a copy of “Footprints on the Moon.” There were over 2300 local entries.
If you would like to read more about America’s reaction to the Apollo 11 landing, check out Bayou City History. Dave Gonzales of the Houston Chronicle has compiled a list of other newspaper history blogs that are looking back on the moon landing. Thanks, John.
