On this day 40 years ago, when I was in my teens, a man made a small step which was in fact a giant leap for mankind. I remember seeing it on television then going outside, looking up at the moon and thinking about Armstrong and Aldrin standing there so far from home. It was moment in history that every person on earth shared, and made us realize how small we really were in the cosmos. Like many kids in the 60's I grew up with the NASA space program. It was exciting and grandiose and I remember watching John Glen take off during breakfast, the first space walk in Gemini, and of course Armstrong's first step off the lunar lander. Since then the earth has pretty much abandoned manned exploration and the world is a bit less exciting for it.
As Dickens once wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..."
That pretty much sums up those years.
First Moon Landing 1969
As Dickens once wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..."
That pretty much sums up those years.
First Moon Landing 1969
6 comments:
But, what have we done in the intervening 40 years? We were left with such hope, and then lapsed back into stupid torpor.
Hey, Ian stole my comment!!!
We went to the moon... then what? It seems we were left hanging.
By the way BB, did the moon landing have anything to do with your abiding love of sci-fi?
Ian & Lil sister, not much of anything. The international space station is limping along, the shuttles are older than many of the astronauts and they don't even have a replacement when they retire them. No money they cry, but give them the least bit of excuse (hell, it doesn't even have to be true, WMD's anyone) and they'll spend trillions to kill their fellow man. Really sad.
Lil sister, I started reading Heinlein and Asimov about that time... don't read sci-fi as much now since pretty much everything is fantasy now, no more hard science. Must be a sign of the times.
I totally remember this day - and watching things on the big old black and white tv!!!!
Well I have to argue that we have done a LOT since then. We have so many images now of our fellow planets as well as their moons that are a wonder to behold. I can spend hours looking at those pictures. The variety of the moons out there is fascinating! You should check out pics of Hyperion, Io and all the other interesting moons. I salute NASA and say "thank you!"
Huh, Jazz cold be right watching the landing and all the other space take-offs and splash-downs probably did influence my ove of sci fi. I was only 6 when they landed, but I was spell-bound.
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