The times were changing rapidly and technology was advancing quickly in the 1960's. Space was no longer unreachable. My mother, Mary Elizabeth Pettepit recalls July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong took the first step on the moon.
Charity Pettepit
I was totally uninterested in space travel. I grew up watching "Captain Midnight" and that was my only reference to outer space until "Lost in Space" (the science fiction television program). It was so phoney and staged. The sets looked like Disney rocks and the characters all wore lame, silver space suits.
The United States was challenging all other space programs. The USSR, the old Soviet Union, had put a dog in space. I thought that was cruel, until I learned that the U.S. had launched a monkey. I was forced to watch launches in my science class at Coolidge Junior High in Natick. My mother, Jeanne Cassie, thought the whole space program was fascinating. She was born in 1918 and her world travelled at a very slow pace. She had seen many changes in the way the world got around. Basically, she travelled long distances by train on Sleeper Cars. I remember her losing her patience with my indifference to outer space. I decided as any teenager would, to show some interest for "brownie points." I could actually recite the names of the astronauts in order of their missions.
Years later, when the space program had advanced to an actual Moon Walk, many members of my family had caught the "space bug." In preparation for the "First walk on the moon" by Neil Armstrong, I hosted a party. My friends and family, especially my six month old daughter, Laura, were all gathered around the television. Although she was too young to know it, I wanted Laura to witness history. We took pictures of the television when Neil Armstrong was walking on the surface of the moon.
I thank my mother now for many things, including helping me find time for outer space. Although elderly and frail, I took her to see Apollo 13 last summer. She loved it again.
Mary Pettepit
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