Florida man who witnessed Apollo 11 launch shares memories of historic day

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (WINK) — Tom Gaut was just a 17-year-old high school student when he witnessed one of humanity's greatest achievements unfold before his eyes.

On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 crew left the suit-up room in the crew quarters and headed to the astronaut van that would take them to the Saturn 5 rocket for their flight to the moon. Gaut was there with a press credential, working for WTRR, a radio station in Sanford, Florida.

"I was invited to go to watch the astronauts come out of the building and get on the van to go out to the launch pad, and I was in the front row," Gaut said. "It was unbelievable."

"The guys, all three astronauts, came out. They were all suited up, carrying their oxygen in a case that looked like a briefcase, and the press all applauded," Gaut said. "They started clapping for him, and we could hear them talking through their helmets, 'Thank you.'"

Then came the launch itself.

"You see the bright flame from the rocket, and then a couple of seconds later, you'd feel the noise, and it was just amazing," Gaut said.

On July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the world changed. Gaut's mother would write excuses to his school, explaining that he would get more out of going to a launch than what he would learn at school that day.

"I missed a lot of school going to the Apollo launches," Gaut said.

Interest in space exploration is different now, but perhaps after this flight, more people will become interested in the space program.

"Trying to go back to the moon is very, I think that's historic," Gaut said.

Gaut was at the radio station when the lunar module Eagle landed on the moon. The AP wire machine printed out the historic news, and Gaut grabbed that piece of paper announcing the historic moment. Years later, he donated it to a museum.

Gaut will be watching the launch of Artemis.