KB Remembers Moonshot 50 Years Later

In this image provided by Maria Bueno of her father, Eugenio Bueno looks at the Apollo 11 moonrcket at the Kennedy Space Center, July 1969 (Maria Bueno via Key News)

The first lunar landing on July 20, 1969 is a vivid memory for millions, including many Key Biscayne residents who were touched, sometimes personally, by the Apollo program and the first moonshot.

Here are some recollections from residents about the event that started with a liftoff just 225 miles north of Key Biscayne, and culminated with the safe return of Commander Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who were the first to walk on the lunar surface, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins.

Maria Bueno’s father, Eugenio Bueno, was a reporter for Cuban radio who saw the launch:
“I was at the Cape for the Apollo 11 launch, I remember him talking about going, it was a proud moment for him to be sent to report on it.  He worked for one of the Cuban radio stations, I don’t remember which one. He’s holding his trusty tape recorder, the old kind with reels of tape.  He would tape and the taped recordings were played at the station. No live feeds back then.

In this photo provided by Maria Bueno, of her father, Eugenio Bueno speaks into a tape recorder as the Apollo 11 moon rocket is in the background at the Kennedy Space Center, July 1969. Bueno was reporting for Cuban radio. (Maria Bueno via Key News)

Billy Kimball:
“I was 10 and fascinated by everything about the moon landing. The New York Times science reporter, John Noble Wilford, was a neighbor in the city and he used to give me press releases, ABC briefing books and incredible half-tone black and white photos that I still have somewhere.

Toby Rohrer:
“I was living in small town in rural Colombia, we were one of the few families who had a TV. I remember the neighbors and others came to see it. Lots of people. It was such an amazing thing… everyone was quiet and mesmerized.”

Franklin Caplan:
I was 14, at Camp Rockhill in Trumbauersville, Pa…the camp set up in the Mess Hall to watch the TV coverage. I’d saved newspapers and magazines since the Mercury flights. I was transfixed; moonstruck. Also worried that something might go wrong. It was so improbable, but no one mentioned fake news. We stayed up late, watching the barely believable moonwalk.”

Anne Rothe:
“I was 9 and living in the Gables. We only had a little portable TV and we spent the morning moving it all over the house trying to find the best reception. We finally ended up with the TV in the doorway of one of the upstairs bedrooms. It was truly awe inspiring (and a bit surreal). I have the front page of the Miami Herald somewhere.”

Ben Trevathan:
“I was 7 years old at Camp Pinnacle in N.C. This was the one and only time in my years there that they brought a TV into the cafeteria. Some of you know that my stepfather, Bob Brunson (still alive and well at 98) was then the CEO of McConnell and Associates in Miami. He spent a lot of the 60s working with NASA and Werner v Braun. He designed a handful of the launchpads at the Cape. In the 70s he designed the gantry system that mated the Space Shuttle onto a 747 for transport back from California to the Cape.”