Most Americans sat glued to television sets on July 20, 1969, as Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first steps on the moon, their words and motions beamed back to earth by the wonders of video cameras.

It was a federal and state holiday; the national crime rate fell; the highway death toll took a dip; 17 convicts walked away from a Savannah work camp while their guards watched those first steps on the Sea of Tranquility.

The successful flight of Apollo 11 was the culmination of an American space program that surged forward after the Russian’s successful launch of Sputnik in 1957. Its connection to Cold War threats and rhetoric continued even during the celebration since an unmanned Soviet Luna 15 module was in a close orbit.

While nearly everyone in the nation had followed the astronauts’ preparation for, lift-off, and journey to the moon on television, American newspapers sold out of massively-headlined keepsake editions trumpeting the astronauts’ accomplishment.



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