They say if you remember the ‘60s
You weren’t really there
But the moon landing I recall very well
Watching it from my armchair.
Everyone I knew around my own age
Had stayed up to watch it all night
Crowded around their small TVs
Watching in black and white.
We’d followed the ‘Space Race’ for several years
And incredible as it now seems
For someone to actually set foot on the moon
Was the epitome of our dreams.
The 60s were a time of great change
The ‘West’ was embroiled in ‘Cold War’
But that night we forgot about all that
As we watched the moon landing in awe.
Earlier the Soviets had led the way
With their Soyuz ahead in the Race
With monkeys and dogs and Gagarin
Launching them all out into space.
Rivalry in space between 2 great nations
Both vieing for pole position
Now the Soviets had been pipped to the post
By the Apollo 11 mission.
We watched it all in black and white.
Celebrations were everywhere
When the words ‘The Eagle has landed’came
We knew how brave those astronauts were
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins
They were heroes of their time
Taking that ‘one small step for man’
But a ‘Giant leap for Mankind’.
By Marion Feasey
