38 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • JANUARY 3, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Queens remembers Moon Landing and Woodstock 50 years later
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Th e summer of 1969 was an historic
time in American pop culture. Th ose
alive during the time recall the fi rst time
humans set foot on the moon and the
iconic Woodstock music festival that
drew hundreds of thousands to Bethel,
New York.
Th e new year marks the 50th anniversaries
of these two events and Queens residents
still carry the memories with them
half a century later.
From July 16-21, 1969, viewers watched
in wonderment as astronauts Neil
Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. and
Michael Collins embarked on the Apollo
11 space mission.
“I remember I was staying at my godmother’s
out east and we watched it and
I remember asking are they really on the
moon or is it fi lmed in a studio,” Donna
Stewart Prudenti told QNS on Facebook.
“Everyone was watching and it was so
quiet. Now thinking back how extraordinary
it was and the silence from the adults
was because they were in awe!”
Queensborough Community College
(QCC) alum Robert Guillot, known as
“Rocket Man”, became obsessed with
space when he saw Sputnik from his
home in Queens Village. His fascination
led him to a career as a space scientist
at NASA who test-fi red rocket engines
at the Marshall Space Flight Center in
Alabama.
“My skin was covered with goosebumps
in anticipation during the launch; I was
overwhelmed with a sense of personal
pride as the astronauts orbited the moon
and prepared the lander, and then I struggled
with intense anxiety during the soft
landing and blast-off from the moon, the
most dangerous phase of the mission. It
was only when the astronauts re-entered
earth’s atmosphere that I fi nally felt some
relief,” Guillot told QCC in 2009.
Guillot added that Armstrong and CBS
anchor Walter Cronkite were the two fi gures
who he most closely associated with
the Apollo 11 mission.
“Armstrong is one of the most famous
names in the history of mankind — a
national hero and a national treasure,”
said Robert. “Cronkite was the voice of
that era and single-handedly fi xated the
country on this momentous event. He
was the most trusted man in the country
and will forever be inextricably linked
with the moon landing.”
To commemorate the 50th anniversary
of the moon landing, the United
States Mint is issuing four coins: a $5 gold
coin, a silver dollar coin, a clad half dollar
coin and a fi ve-ounce proof silver dollar
coin. Th e coins will be released on Jan.
24, 2019.
A month later, 400,000 people gathered
in Bethel, New York for the Woodstock
Music and Art Fair from Aug. 15 to 17.
Music fans were treated to memorable
performances from Joan Baez, Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young, Ravi Shankar and
Jimi Hendrix whose rendition of Th e
Star-Spangled Banner remains iconic to
this day.
Also on the festival performance roster
that year was Astoria-born musician
Melanie Safk a. Known eponymously as
Melanie, the singer was one of three solo
female artists to perform at the festival
along with Baez and Janis Joplin. Th e artist’s
appearance at the festival reportedly
inspired her 1970 hit song “Lay Down
(Candles in the Rain)”.
Th e Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
just announced that they will be marking
the 50th anniversary of Woodstock
with an anniversary festival. From August
16-18, organizers will put on the “Bethel
Woods Music and Culture Festival:
Celebrating the golden anniversary at
the historic site of the 1969 Woodstock
festival,” which will feature a slate of
unnamed performers as well as “TEDstyle
talks.”
Photo via Wikimedia Commons/NASA
Apollo 11 astronauts. From left: Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.
AP Photo
Neil Armstrong waves to the crowd on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park during a procession celebrating the Apollo 11 astronauts on Aug. 18, 1969.
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