My first memories of my interest in space was the news of the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967. I would have been 11 years old. Most likely I didn’t hear about the fire until the next day. I just remember it being on the news but it must have made an impact on me. I use to have the radio come on at 5:00 AM in the morning now I wake up at that time naturally.
Later on I remember being in Rockingham, NC visiting my grandfather in December 1968. Who else remembers Apollo 8? In 2019 I got to see Jim Lovell Apollo 8, and Apollo 13 commander in person at a talk he gave in Chapel Hill. I didn’t actual meet him but I was in the audience.
Jim Lovell
I was a witness to the following manned space launches