Although I consider myself middle aged, I'm not quite old enough to remember the historic day of July 20th, 1969. I was only six and a half and not even a bit concerned with such things as a man walking on the moon. It would have been nice to be at least ten years older. I must have been somewhat influenced by the space program back then because I do remember wanting to be an astronaut when I grew up. I also remember getting an "A" on an elementary school assignment where I built a Saturn rocket model that included the removable command module and lunar lander. Anyway, the reason I'm talking about this is because of the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon. It still amazes me that NASA actually accomplished it, especially with only 1960's technology. The three men pictured above certainly deserve to be forever honored for their skill and heroism. I wonder if they were totally aware of the enormous risk that was involved with all the things that could possibly go wrong on their mission. If you want to witness some of those risks along with the teamwork and spirit of NASA, a great movie to watch is
Apollo 13 or
From Earth to the Moon. There is one thing, however, that bothers me a little with regards to the space program - how far we
haven't come since 1969. Think about it. It only took 66 years from man's first flight by the Wright Brothers to man landing on the moon. You would think forty years past that point we would already be colonizing Mars. Unfortunately, with accident setbacks and budget problems, traveling to other planets is still science fiction. It would be an interesting coincidence if the first landing on Mars was exactly 66 years from the first moon landing. If so, I hope I'm still around to witness that historic and amazing event.
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