Uruguayan astronomers tell their memories of the arrival on the Moon – 07/20/2019

The small step of Neil Armstrong in the Luna It was a big step forward for humanity, but it was a step that, beyond pride, was done with fear: nobody knew what could happen.

Among other issues, it was said that the surface could be covered with more than one meter of dust, explained the Uruguayan astronomer. Emerald Mallada. "Even the astronaut was nervous because I remember seeing his feet and that during the last leg he was not hit, he hit the ground and he did not thrown into the sea, "he said.

On July 20, 1969, the world was paralyzed: everyone was waiting for the man to come to the moon for the first time and when Armstrong finally came to the surface, the television was live.

In Uruguay, it was already dark and television was a luxury among so many. People met with parents to attend this historic event.

Five references of astronomy in Uruguay told El País what memories they have of that day. Oscar Méndez, professor and director of the Montevideo Planetarium, told how this feat of humanity had marked him. L & # 39; astronomer Gonzalo Tancredi recognizes that this has certainly influenced what his profession would be. L & # 39; astronomer Tabaré Gallardo I was 7 years old and I was then in Europe: in his case, he lived an unforgettable summer night during which a TV was driven to the terrace to watch the movie. event. Julio Fernández, teacher and head of the department of astronomy of the faculty of science, no longer was a child and was involved in the subject: he was a student and the arrival on the moon had expected , a little more than the others. The astronomer Esmeralda Mallada was also an adult: with her husband and two young children, they went to a grandfather's house to see on television the event they were all talking about.

In 1969, Óscar Méndez was 3 years old. The arrival of man on the moon "is almost the first memory of my childhood I think," he said. He added, "I remember the transmission, then I woke up my parents to turn off the black and white TV in his room, they fell asleep, I looked fascinated."

The teacher also said, "It's something that struck me, I keep an album of press clippings made by my aunt." At that time, his family was not talking about astronomy. "There are a lot of books in my parents' house about the product of the questions I started asking them," he said.

In his opinion, the arrival of man on the moon was of great importance in many respects; Perhaps most importantly, for the first time, he placed at the center of world public opinion a techno-scientific event as the first universal television show.

"From a scientific point of view, this may not have been an important contribution, beyond which some questions have been elucidated.From the point of view of publicity, it is a masterful gesture of the United States against the 'Soviet Union, which has completely changed the way the race for space has been developed,' explained Méndez to El País.

Gonzalo Tancredi was 6 years old. Remember that everyone was aware of what was going on even days before. "Something marked my vocation and that of my sister: my parents had a cellar and a contest for the best showcase conditioned by the coming of the man on the Moon.They built one that was d & # 39; one side the Moon and the other Earth, and they won the second prize in a way that marked my vocation and also that of my sister, because she is a decorator and that in this window were represented the two vocations we would have, "he said.

The astronomer remembers watching the show with his family and stressed that "when there was a television, people would gather to attend this special moment".

Tabaré Gallardo was 7 years old and, although he said that his memories were "fuzzy", he was found that day in Europe: he lived in France for a year and on July 20, he visited parents in Spain. "It was very common that on very hot nights in Madrid, they all go to the rooftops, one of my parents was a sacristan of the church and they were going to watch television." There, they saw the live broadcast of the arrival on the moon.

"And the next day there was all the commentary, the photos in the newspaper," he said. The astronomer added that the importance of this success is more "fundamental to entrepreneurship itself, because in reality astronomers of the time were against the inhabited journey. cheaper and safer to send probes and machines. "

Julio Fernández was 23 years old and, as a student in astronomy, the event generated a lot of expectations. He stressed that "we must take into account what were direct transmissions at that time, they were exceptional, even when it was about things happening on Earth."

The astronomer claimed that "it was quite a feat, at that time it almost resembled the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America.It was no more and no less than to visit for the first time another body of the solar system, a historical event, you saw it as actually participating in something transcendent. "

Fernandez recalls that he was at home with his family that winter night: "We all watched him and it was an exclamation to see live when Neil Armstrong came down from the lunar module. But it was a historical fact, it was really a considerable advance over those made for various reasons, not only scientific but also political ".

Astronomer Esmeralda Mallada was 32 years old. She was married, had two children aged 5 and 6 and had been teaching for 10 years. He said that they went to one of the family's grandparents that evening to watch TV: "In my house there was no – my husband and i recently bought one from them, while my children were 11 and 12 years old – to be good readers.Then we would watch TV at a neighbor or at our grandparents, "he said.

What he remembers most is seeing when the astronaut was about to descend to the ground: "We talked so much that the moon could be covered with a meter and a half of dust, to the point that even this astronaut was nervous, I remember that: seeing the feet of the astronaut in the last step, he did not detach himself, he touched the ground and he did not throw himself into the sea ".

He added: "Some people say that money is spent to reach the moon and march instead of fighting poverty, but I believe that poverty can be fought in another way." In this sense, Mallada explained that all that man invests in these surveys has advantages: "We would not have the cell phones we have if the number of measures taken to reach the moon had not been done . We would not have the computers we have. "

The voice of the experts.