Lunar landing: Alan Contessa

Alan Contessa, 62, former Grumman worker, St. James

I worked at Grumman on the lunar modules, making and installing the thermal insulation - gold and silver foil.

I worked there for three years, 1966 to 1969. We went from testing to final assembly and then to flight. Turns out it was the most important job I ever had.

It was a crazy time. Don't forget, this was all about Cold War politics, the space race. It wasn't for scientific reasons, it was the race for the moon.

I would say, "Can you believe they're letting us young kids near this thing?" But we took it very seriously.

The big mission was obviously July 16. About a month before, they decided they wanted to insulate the lower portion of the landing gear. This work had to be done on top of the Saturn 5 rocket, which was already on the launchpad.

We went down to Cocoa Beach, to Cape Kennedy. We had to be on call. They would call us up at 3 in the morning . . . Other times we spent 24 hours in a trailer waiting to go up. I was supposed to stay down there for the launch, but I opened my big yap and wanted to go home.

I feel lucky to have been a part of it. We did get paid - it wasn't great money, but it wasn't bad. I was 20 years old, I bought a brand new 1967 Corvette and I borrowed the money from Grumman.

Right after Apollo 11 they laid off people. I went to work for the telephone company . . . wound up a Teamster, worked in construction for about 20 years and then retired.

Now I work on the LM-13 [a lunar module built for a canceled 1973 mission that is now being restored for exhibit use] over at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. I knew my skills would be useful over there, plus the idea appealed to me. You don't always get a chance to do something again in life.