Hear At The Library: Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., walks near the lunar module during the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.

Emily Schario is a producer in the WGBH Studio at the Boston Public Library, where she produces radio and digital broadcasts about the Boston community and beyond. Before joining WGBH, Emily was the news editor for her college newspaper and interned at WBUR’s On Point Radio. She has a degree in mediated communication and English literature from Stonehill College.

July 19, 2019

Updated July 05, 2023

Every generation has a defining historic moment. For some, it's the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. For others, it's Watergate. But for most Baby Boomers, the Apollo 11 moon landing was one of those historic events that elicited a visceral reaction from those who witnessed it. As part of our on-going series, “Hear at the Library,” we invited three notable Bostonians to our Boston Public Library studio to recall where they were and what they were thinking that fateful evening in 1969.

Here's our feature that aired on WGBH's Morning Edition:

Hear at the Library | Radio Feature

Listen to more recollections of the moon landing here:

Hear at the Library | Eitan

It was something so unique, so special, beyond our ability to imagine.

-Eitan Horowitz of Jerusalem, Israel remembers being in the middle of a job interview when the secretary of his future boss interrupted the interview to have them come watch the moon landing.

Hear at the Library | Jean

And then my mind just went wild. Is it possible that we might even go further in space?

-Jean O'Connor, a resident of Dorchester, remembers thinking that she saw a ghost on TV when it was actually the moon.

Hear at the Library | Ramaly

It was like a big step into darkness, but as that step was made, everything was illuminated.

-Ramaly Fernando, a resident of central Massachusetts, remembers listening to the radio transmission of the Apollo 11 moon landing as a girl in Sri Lanka.