On July 20, 1969, I woke up in the middle of the night in the Las Vegas hotel where my family was staying.
On the painfully small TV set, I sat, enraptured, and watched the grainy, blurred, almost incomprehensible images that came back from the moon as Neil Armstrong stepped down and off the ladder and onto the lunar soil.
The poor quality of the images didn't matter; my imagination filled them in more than satisfactorily.
I can't describe the feeling it gave me; I had no personal association with the space program through my family or friends, but somehow I felt part of it nonetheless, and felt that somehow Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (yes, and Michael Collins) represented all of us...all humanity.
We're a species capable of great and terrible things. Let's choose great ones.
Think how much more more we would have developed there if they had represented us, America, as they stepped onto American soil.
Armed Liberal,
Do you also remember looking up at the Moon that week, and thinking about the men that were there - realizing that the Moon would never be the same for you again.
And finally hardest of all to believe: Can you imagine that no-one has been back there in some 30 years now?
How long will it be until someone does go back to finish what was started?
And what's the betting that it won't be an American?
>>And what's the betting that it won't be an American?
Who cares?
One of the only things that wasn't exactly perfect about the Moon Landing was the flag. The flag should have been of a picture of Earth taken from space, rather than the US flag (and certainly not the stupid UN flag). This would have enabled the ultimate photo op: A picture of Neil holding the Earth Flag with the Earth in the background.
Millenia from now, we could have shown that picture to any aliens we encountered, and they would have Understood.
That aside, the Moon Landing was clearly the greatest human achievement so far. It managed to transcend its militaristic, "national greatness" roots and become something more. For me, the defining moment in the mission was when Neil and Buzz left the package containing the mission patches of Gus & Co., and the medals of the Soviet cosmonauts who had died pushing the limits of human exploration. That was one of the most decent and human things I've ever heard of.
My personal favorite Apollo 11 tribute is The Onion version, "Holy &**! Man lands on %$^# moon!" It's perhaps the nicest and most appropriate Onion article ever. I highly recommend it.
Oh I dunno TJ Madison,
given that US taxpayers paid the bill, maybe they had the right to put their flag on the mission.
BTW the picture of Earth was on the memorial plaque that was attached to the Lunar Module.
>>Oh I dunno TJ Madison,
given that US taxpayers paid the bill, maybe they had the right to put their flag on the mission.
I don't recall my parents being asked what sort of flag they wanted on that moon lander they had a share in.
Come to think of it, I don't think my parents were consulted at all, except to the extent they were threatened with fines and jail if they didn't pay taxes.
That aside, yes, any private company putting stuff on the moon should surely have the right to put the US flag, the Soviet flag, or the Sophia Loren flag on it.
I'm just saying that the Earth Flag would have been coolest. :-)
I've always been a speciest. I discriminate in favor of humans. And from my point of view, everything we can reach is ours. And so the landing on the moon was such an important event for me and continues to be a huge milestone in my memories.
Later, I was lucky enough as an engineering student to spend a summer working with Space Shuttle Operations in Rockwell Downey during the early '80's. So Challenger and Columbia were huge blows to me.
And yet I celebrate humanity's continuous reach outward. And wait with bated breath for Discovery's return to space.
I've observed Apollo Eleven Day since I was very young. Kind of odd that today also marks the passing of James Doohan.
Oh, and Madison? "We came in peace, for all mankind."
A.L,
I remember the actual footfall on the moon to be in the afternoon, CA. time.
I was living in a hippie house on Webster St. in Bezerkeley.
Watched it in black and white. With Ed Herney and friends.
I liked the American flag.
"private company putting stuff on the moon should surely have the right to put the US flag, the Soviet flag, or the Sophia Loren flag on it."
They should fly the flag of their country, the symbol tells us who's criminal, tax, mining, and organic law applies to this company facility.
I remember admiring the space man who lifted weights.
I read up as far as I could on all the astronauts, not just the ones chosen for the moon shot. As far as I could tell from all the information that was made available, the most interesting thing they did, apart from being functional units in a huge military-technical complex, was to do cardiovascular training such as running, to improve aerobic efficiency and endurance. This seemed to be approved, possibly career enhancing, and therefore their main interest. Down the rows, again and again, always the same.
It was obvious that the system wanted reliable cogs, and that since the glory was won mostly by being selected and those willing would always vastly exceed the places, the system could and always would assure that cogs would be heroes, and while homo sapiens was making it to the moon, humanity as I knew it would never be allowed out there and beyond.
However, there was an astronaut whose hobby was lifting weights. Presumably light weights, with many repetitions, to increase endurance while maintaining his compact physique and mission fitness. Still, the originality, the boldness of it, the courage to do something slightly different startled me and inspired me. Go, go, you weight-lifting astronaut!
I hoped that if the moon mission was a success, that it might be the beginning of many things and that he too might one day go, not to be the first and the hero, as that was reserved for fully reliable non-deviators, but to set his foot on another world for the sake of doing so, because it is good to be human and to adventure, to explore, to go to new places.
It turned out the men on the moon were the first step to ... nothing much. But it was good that it was done, and that everybody came home safely.
AL
While we were all WASP getting ahead in the evil Corp. world 20 somethings, the Armstrong moment was great. And, of course it was viewed live, I think there were about 30 people in my duplex at the time. Unrestrained cheering! And Toasting!
But, my favorite was the '68 Xmas eve circumlunar flight wherein Frank Borman read Genesis for the world. I had just gotten to my parents home with the color TV I'd bought for their Xmas gift in time to hook it up for this most moving moment.
To me, will always supercede Armstrongs actual setting foot on the lunar surface.
Mike
>>I hoped that if the moon mission was a success, that it might be the beginning of many things and that he too might one day go, not to be the first and the hero, as that was reserved for fully reliable non-deviators, but to set his foot on another world for the sake of doing so, because it is good to be human and to adventure, to explore, to go to new places.
When Alan Shepard was asked by Charlie Rose for the justification for the Moon Launch, he replied, "Because it's there and because we could go."
"When Alan Shepard was asked by Charlie Rose for the justification for the Moon Launch, he replied, "Because it's there and because we could go.""
:D Perfect. :D