'So many houses in Ireland hadn’t water or sewerage and you were watching man do something you could hardly imagine'

In a world almost jaded by innovation, it is difficult to convey the awe, the shuddering excitement, the sense of possibility — and the victory for God-on-our-side capitalism, too —provoked by the first moon landing, 50 years ago today. It was, even on flickering, black-and-white televisions, simply jaw-dropping.

Despite talk of missions to Mars and a renewed interest in returning to the moon, nothing can match the awesome feat of that first lunar landing 50 years ago today, writes Dan Buckley.