Voyager impact on the moon

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik launch--and the dawn of the space age--CNET News.com asked readers to look back on their most vivid memories of humans' exploration of space. Here are some of the responses we got, along with a few of our own.

"I heard on the radio that the space probe Voyager would impact the surface of the moon about midnight my time. The rest of my day was spent rigging an antenna for the TV that would allow me to receive the broadcast from the nearest station. It was huge and unwieldy and looked like a cross between a bailer gone mad and a spiders nest. Whatever it was, I could get a picture on the black-and-white TV in the living room.

"I stayed up all night, watching Howard Cosell and a parade of experts on that little round screen. When the probe actually impacted, I was pretty much nose-on-the-TV to see just as much as I possibly could. Those last 6 to 10 seconds before impact, that is when space travel became real for me."

--CNET News.com reader Brian Peterson

At left is an image sent back from Ranger 7's camera, taken 8.5 minutes before impacting the moon on July 31, 1964.