Apollo 11 moon landing brought Las Vegas, world to standstill

By Dennis Rudner Las Vegas Review-Journal

5 years ago

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photo ... — In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Aldrin and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong were the first men to walk on the lunar surface with temperatures ranging from 243 degrees above to 279 degrees below zero. Astronaut Michael Collins flew the command module. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)

In this July 16, 1969 photo made available by NASA, the 363-feet Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 11 crew, launches from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA via AP)

This July 16, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the Earth as the Apollo 11 mission heads to the moon. (NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module undocks from the Command Module on its way to the surface of the moon. (Michael Collins/NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. descends a ladder from the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 mission. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin works on a solar wind experiment device on the surface of the moon. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the Lunar Module "Eagle" during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)

This July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows Buzz Aldrins boot and bootprint during a test of the lunar soil during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity. (Buzz Aldrin/NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. stands next to the Passive Seismic Experiment device on the surface of the the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, flight controllers work in the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center during the Apollo 11 lunar extravehicular activity. The television monitor shows astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon. (NASA via AP)

This July 21, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows Tranquility Base and the U.S. flag from a window on the Lunar Module as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin prepare for liftoff from the surface of the moon. (NASA via AP)

In this July 21, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, sits inside the Lunar Module after he and Buzz Aldrin completed their extravehicular activity on the surface of the moon. (Buzz Aldrin/NASA via AP)

In this July 21, 1969 photo made available by NASA, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module ascent stage, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, approaches the Command and Service Modules for docking in lunar orbit. Astronaut Michael Collins remained with the CSM in lunar orbit while the other two crewmen explored the moon’s surface. In the background the Earth rises above the lunar horizon. (Michael Collins/NASA via AP)

In this July 21, 1969 file photo, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Michael Chivaris, Clinton, Mass.; Army Spec. 4 Andrew Hutchins, Middlebury, Vt.; Air Force Sgt. John Whalin, Indianapolis, Ind.; and Army Spec. 4 Lloyd Newton, Roseburg, Ore., read a newspaper headlining the Apollo 11 moon landing, in downtown Saigon, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Hugh Van Es)

In this July 24, 1969 photo from the U.S. Navy, Navy UDT swimmer Clancy Hatleberg prepares to jump from a helicopter into the water next to the Apollo 11 capsule after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, to assist the astronauts into the raft at right. (Milt Putnam/U.S. Navy via AP)

In this July 24, 1969 file photo, President Richard Nixon gives an "OK" sign as he greets Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin in a quarantine van aboard the USS Hornet after splashdown and recovery in the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo)

In this Aug. 13, 1969 file photo, people line 42nd Street in New York to cheer Apollo 11 astronauts, in lead car from left, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong, traveling east on 42nd street, towards the United Nations. (AP Photo/File)

This March 30, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the crew of the Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to the surface of the moon. (NASA via AP)

In this July 20, 2009 file photo, Apollo 11 astronauts, from left, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong stand in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on the 40th anniversary of the mission’s moon landing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Guo JiuLe, 2, of Shanghai, China, reaches for a U.S. flag at the entrance of Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission exhibit at the Museum of Flight, before its opening Thursday, April 11, 2019, in Seattle. The exhibit celebrates the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Apollo 11 manned moon landing on July 20, 1969. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

The Las Vegas Review-Journal front page published on Monday, July 21, 1969.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday, July 21, 1969.

Few events in this world could stop a gambler with a lot of money from pursuing a jackpot, but one out-of-this-world event brought gambling and most of the free world to a halt for a few exhilarating moments 50 years ago.

On July 20, 1969, a half-billion people sat mesmerized in front of their television sets watching astronaut Neil Armstrong take his historic giant leap for mankind.

In the United States, people watched in their homes, at bars, racetracks, airports, casinos and even prisons. In a Review-Journal story, CBS producer Robert Wussler told The Associated Press an estimated 95 percent of all of America tuned in, holding its collective breath.

Reportedly, one Las Vegas casino had topless showgirls pour champagne from uncorked bottles to celebrating throngs of viewers as the Eagle landed on the moon’s surface on July 20. Patrons were asked to refrain from their pursuit of jackpots as the module approached the moon’s surface, the Review-Journal reported.

At San Quentin Prison, the warden allowed television sets to remain on past the usual 11 p.m. curfew.

Six hours and 39 minutes after the Eagle landed, the lunar module door opened and Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the moon’s surface. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin followed 19 minutes later, and the pair collected rocks, took pictures and set up experiments. After a little more than two hours, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the Eagle, took off and redocked with Columbia.

Most of the world cheered, cried and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But a billion people had no earthly idea what was taking place some 239,000 miles above Earth — neither the Soviet Union nor China broadcast the historic moment.

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