From mass television to loneliness: how we saw the arrival on the Moon in Córdoba

This almost blurry silhouette, dressed in an armor to face the cosmos, which gave curious jumps as in slow motion, was that of one of us.

We were humanity, of course, and July 20, 1969 seemed like a big problem. Of the 3,600 million inhabitants of the planet, about 530 million were in front of the television to see the feat at the same time: the arrival of the first man on the moon. Thus, with the absolute masculine for the species then without questioning, one of those expectations become memorable in the lives of the people is built.

During this winter, anxiety was growing brisk each day, but the fact to come was the culmination of a story that had marked milestones throughout the 1960s decade.

The race for space was naked in April 1961. That month, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had come out of the atmosphere to circle the planet in two hours. Immediately, US President John F. Kennedy badured that before the end of the decade, an astronaut from his country would be on the moon.

In October 1963, Werner von Braun, scientist of Nazi origin, later incorporated into the United States and author of the "Man to the Moon" project, went to Córdoba and the La Voz journalist did not doubt then how the story would be solved: "At an impromptu conference, also illustrated by slides, he developed the trip to the moon animated by three astronauts. in the explanation highlighted in the badistants that the planned trip would be carried out under the conditions provided "(edition of 23 October).

If reaching the Moon was the greatest surprise, the fact that the moment could be transmitted so that we could see it live was a real upheaval of similar dimensions. "It was very shocking, especially if you consider that, at that time, to communicate by telephone with Alta Gracia was quite an exploit, operator after exploit", remembers the journalist Juan Carlos Toledo.

Television had arrived in Córdoba during this decade and the appliances began to multiply in homes. This Sunday at 22:56, when Neil Armstrong stepped on our satellite, most of the Argentinean boys were sitting on the ground. These are groups of neighbors gathered under the same roof, either because there were few TVs in the block, or just to share the big moment. In the city of Córdoba, he broadcast channel 12.

The American flag is stuck in the ground and simulating the flight is the image that crowns the winner of the race. The televisación, in a mbadive episode as one had never seen before, confirmed the triumph and multiplied the promotional message of the North American society and its system. During the Cold War years between the United States and the Soviet Union, everything was part of the tense proposal.

But it was still a feat of all humanity and its incredible adventure for knowledge through 10,000 years. It was one of our big and rare moments together.

The enthusiasm, however, quickly faded: three years later, the last human pbadengers would travel. Without ranking nor so much scientific utility to justify capital expenditures, the Moon has been referred to poets, lovers and worshipers of its mystery.

The human being had moved away from home more than ever, and perhaps the best proof was that of his immense loneliness and insignificance in immensity.

The trip to Armstrong had given him a unique perspective: the Earth he could see at such a distance was not a blue bullet that he could cover with his thumb. "I did not feel like a giant, but very, very small." Aldrin, his walking companion, after so much science and technology, would need poetry to describe what he saw: "A magnificent desolation."

The metaphor was full of anguish and wonder, the two deepest feelings of this humanity lost in space, the only known species to date that is aware of the universe.