Memories of watching Apollo 11: 'You could hear a pin drop'

This 1983 photo provided by David Waldrup shows him in his Air Force uniform as a captain. The day of the moon landing on July 20, 1969, David was celebrating not only man’s first steps on the moon - he was also celebrating his 15th birthday. “I was a child of the space race growing up in the 60's and watching everything we did to put men on the moon. I built models of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft and read everything I could find on the vehicles and men flying them. But I was most excited when, on my 15th birthday, my family gathered around our TV to watch the live broadcast in Dallas, Texas as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. What a birthday gift for and excited space nut! And then my next feeling was, wow, what are we going to do next? It’s literally not just the sky, but outer space is the limit. And I can’t wait to be part of it. And I knew at some level, I would be part of it somehow.” (U.S. Air Force via AP)

This 2015 photo provided by June Dorricott of Brisbane, Australia, shows her during a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On July 21, 1969, while others were watching in the wee hours of the night or morning, June was spending the afternoon home on an unofficial day off from school: “I was seven years old and waiting at the bus stop in a little town called Toowoomba, Australia when my mother came up to get me. She told me I didn't have to go to school because a man was going to walk on the moon. Little Judy Wakefield, who was waiting with me, started to cry, and mum told her she had the day off too, so she could go home. I found out much later in life that we didn’t actually have off school. I really think she thought it was important that we witness a man make history live on TV. (Courtesy June Dorricott via AP)

This August 1969 photo provided by Frank Schramm shows him during a family trip to Venice, Italy. Schramm of Montclair, N.J., was 12 at the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing. But rather than being at home, he was out swimming, hiking and building rockets for four weeks at Camp Watonka in Hawley, Pa. "I will never forget that evening of all 175 campers and I, watching this small black-and-white TV with Neil Armstrong coming out of the Lunar Module in that very blurry image from the moon. The room was in total awe, you could hear a pin drop. I will never forget this day!” (Courtesy Frank Schramm via AP)

This June 1969 photo made by Frank Schramm shows his father, Frank, holding a model of a Saturn V rocket. The junior Schramm had an utter fascination with the moon landing ever since the Apollo 11 mission. He and his family even met Buzz Aldrin in 2016 when the former astronaut returned to Montclair to celebrate his old middle school being renamed Buzz Aldrin Middle School. (Frank Schramm via AP)

This 2019 photo provided by Cathy Goff shows her with newspaper clippings about the Apollo 11 moon landing mission at her home in King, N.C. In July 1969, the then 14-year-old Cathy, an avid Star Trek and science fiction fan, was spending the week cutting newspaper clippings of the Apollo 11 mission for a school science project: “I remember my mother letting my sister and me stay up late to watch the moon walk. I love anything space related. ... I got to meet Buzz Aldrin at the Star Trek 30th anniversary convention in Huntsville, Alabama. It was one of the greatest thrills of my life!” (Courtesy Cathy Goff via AP)

This 2019 photo provided by Cathy Goff shows her with newspaper clippings about the Apollo 11 moon landing mission at her home in King, N.C. In July 1969, the then 14-year-old Cathy, an avid Star Trek and science fiction fan, was spending the week cutting newspaper clippings of the Apollo 11 mission for a school science project: “I remember my mother letting my sister and me stay up late to watch the moon walk. I love anything space related. ... I got to meet Buzz Aldrin at the Star Trek 30th anniversary convention in Huntsville, Alabama. It was one of the greatest thrills of my life!” (Courtesy Cathy Goff via AP)

This June 25, 2019 photo provided by Peter Cowin shows him looking over Apollo 11 memorabilia at his home in Cheltenham, England. On July 21, 1969, Peter rolled out of bed around 3 a.m. to watch the moon landing. “I was something of a space junkie at the time,” he said. He was 13 and the only one in his family to wake up because the others were resting up for their vacation that started later that day. “At first the picture was upside down and horribly grainy, but it improved as time went on so I could see two ghostly figures - raising the flag, setting up experiments, and taking that 'giant leap for mankind'. The day after, it seemed as if the whole world was celebrating and uplifted at the thought of what 'we' had achieved. The moon landings showed us that mankind could achieve absolutely anything it set its mind to." (Courtesy Peter Cowin via AP)

This June 25, 2019 photo provided by Peter Cowin shows a page from his scrapbook of Apollo 11 memorabilia at his home in Cheltenham, England. On July 21, 1969, Peter rolled out of bed around 3 a.m. to watch the moon landing. “I was something of a space junkie at the time,” he said. He was 13 and the only one in his family to wake up because the others were resting up for their vacation that started later that day. “At first the picture was upside down and horribly grainy, but it improved as time went on so I could see two ghostly figures - raising the flag, setting up experiments, and taking that 'giant leap for mankind'. The day after, it seemed as if the whole world was celebrating and uplifted at the thought of what 'we' had achieved. The moon landings showed us that mankind could achieve absolutely anything it set its mind to." (Courtesy Peter Cowin via AP)

This July 17, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the Earth as the Apollo 11 mission travels towards the moon. It’s estimated that about 600 million people around the world watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969. (NASA via AP)