It was a long time ago. I was in the 1st grade, we had just moved into our new house that we bought for $11,000 and John F. Kennedy was the President. The year was 1961. The US was in the middle of the Cold War and we were competing with the Soviets on several fronts.
I can clearly remember watching Kennedy on one of our three TV stations where he challenged our nation with his vision: To land a man on the moon within the next 10 years.
Fast forward… It’s only eight years later and I’m a freshman in high school. Apollo 11 lands on the moon as Walter Kronkite ushered us along with his lunar models. The entire world was glued to their TVs, watching Neil Armstrong jump off the last rung of his dismount ladder. We watched Neil plant his white space boots on the dusty lunar surface. Then, Neil made his famous statement, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The entire world seemingly froze for a few seconds, taking in what had just happened. I can not describe how it made us all feel- I don't have the words.
Today, Neil Armstrong left us at the age of 82, but what he (and his crew) accomplished left an indelible mark on the memory banks of millions. The doubters are still saying it never happened. But, what was most important was the technological accomplishment and being the first country on another planet, which instilled a national pride within us that has lasted generations.
Goodbye Neil, you made us proud as a nation.
Last Edited by on Aug 25, 2012 11:38 PM
The whole world saw it all happen on that July afternoon in 1969. My memory of that days great happening is etched indelibly. I was 28yo & along with thousands in our city of Brisbane we watched it on a B&W TV in a retailers shop window. Everyone saw it happen.
Quote by Noodles "“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The entire world seemingly froze for a few seconds, taking in what had just happened. I can not describe how it made us feel- I don't have the words."
Noodles in my opinion it was and still is the most remarkable accomplishment mankind has ever achieved. I had just turned 11 years old a couple of weeks earlier and remember being glued to a 26inch black and white Admiral TV set with my parents as Walter Cronkite reported. Later that evening after Neil's first footsteps my Dad and I walked outside and looked up at the moon in amazement. I remember him pointing at it saying "can you believe there's actually people up there!". It was just so surreal.
Back then it was every little boys dream to be an astronaut like Neil and I was no exception. I bought and built several models of the Saturn V rocket and lunar lander and later when my school class took a field trip to the Huntsville Space Museum I was in seventh heaven. I remember me and a couple of my neighborhood buddies camping out in a small tent in the backyard pretending it was our lunar module while we drank Tang. Man how I loved those times.
I know a lot of people looked at the space program as a waste of money but they couldn't be more wrong. The technology that came out of it is mind boggling and has affected the daily lives of everyone on this planet in a positive way.
Thank you for your service to this country and the world Neil.
there are many that think the whole thing was staged...someone told me the wind was blowing the flag and there is no wind up there....dont know where people get these notions....
There's a lot of things people don't realize about the moon landing. It's like anything else, people view history through their own perspective- with hindsight. A couple things people don't realize about the moon shot: 1) The Russians didn't not get to the moon because they couldn't. They were putting a lot of effort into getting to Venus - they wanted to find life and stuff, and Venus was the best place to look for it. It took them a while to figure out it was a big ball of super-hot acid. The U.S. would have probably still got to the moon first anyway and it wasn't like the Soviet Venus program was a waste of time - we learned SO MUCH from it - we thought it could be another earth until the Russians send stuff there and had it melt in the sulphuric acid rain.
A lot of people don't realize what a balls-to-the-wall thing the Moonshot was. I mean, it was ballsy. It was, we're going to send these dudes to the moon. We think we can probably get them back. But we didn't know. There was no backup propulsion on the lunar module, if there were any problem whatsoever with this one rocket, they would be stuck on the moon. Forever. No possibility of rescue. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin themselves knew there was a good chance they would die on the moon. Everybody knew that, except the public. There was a carefully orchestrated schedule of things to happen, a speech for Nixon, a specific time for Niel and Buzz's last communication to earth, etc.
THEY EVEN HAD PLANS FOR THE FUNERALS. Believe it or not, they actually had the funeral planned out. First, Nixon was to call and inform the widows (or soon-to-be-widows). Then he was to address the nation.
This is the speech that was prepared for president Richard Nixon to deliver in the very possible event that they would be stranded on the moon to die. It is an incredibly beautiful piece of writing. In my opinion, more beautiful than Reagan's "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God" from the Challenger.
Try to imagine those two men stuck for eternity on the moon, no hope of rescue, as you read this. It is quite moving. In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful speeches ever written: "Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice. These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
"They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown. In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man."
After they cut of communication with the moon - so they could die in peace - they'd have the funeral for Armstrong and Aldrin, who would have still been alive. The clergyman was to conduct a burial-at-sea ceremony, committing their souls to the "deepest of the deep." The funeral was to conclude with the Lord's Prayer.
The speech was written by William Safire.
---------- David
____________________ At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong. R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
True American heroes. Buzz Aldrin captivated me as a child (one of the reasons I am currently an Astronomy nut). --------- "These little caramel candies with wrappers that dissolved in your mouth. From a sanitary point of view it was a pretty silly idea, but I guess it kept them from sticking to things."
GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!! This is a huge aha moment for a candy-maker like myself so please excuse the Geekery. ---------------- Moon landing deniers are SO misinformed.
The flag WAS waving in an environment with no wind. Newtons basic Physics laws reminds us why the flag was waving (because it was attached to a rod on a pole, something touched the flag and something needs to act on it to stop it)... The flag DID eventually stop waving due to gravity.
Now we have LRO images of the landing sites and people will likely STILL deny the truth of these images.
A big Monkey Facepalm to all these deniers:
Last Edited by on Aug 28, 2012 12:44 PM
I agree wholeheartedly with Buzz Aldrin's answer to the Moon landing conspiracy nuts. Even the moon-conspiracy folks have to concede that Buzz Aldrin kicks ass.
---------- David
____________________ At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong. R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
Last Edited by on Aug 27, 2012 4:53 PM
Last Edited by on Aug 28, 2012 12:44 PM