"The Eagle Has Landed"

I cannot believe I missed this day! Yesterday, 40 years ago, Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Oh.Wow. I remember this day and I remember my dad speaking of it at the dinner table. He took us outside and we stared upwards, looking at that place in space where dreams existed. Maybe it wasn't made of cheese!
My next favorite part of this exciting time was after describing the surface dust as "fine and almost like a powder", Commander Armstrong stepped off the footpad, and into history, when he said his famous line "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". And we all cheered. We were all on that moon with him. We took that step. We saluted that flag.
Yeah, it was an extremely exciting time for America. I remember my grandfather talking of how he had witnessed the coming of the Ford vehicles and now here we were with men on the moon. He used to say "those weren't the good 'ole days, THESE are the good 'ole days". And he was so right. If we could go to the moon, we could do anything.
(Neil Armstrong, Commander; Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot; Edwin 'Buzz' E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module Pilot) You can click on either photograph to be directed to more information on this incredible time in our lives.

on

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous22 July, 2009

    Such a promise then and a promise broken. Instead of reaching for the stars as we were promised, we were given politics as usual, wars where noble men and women sacrificed their lives with not a lot to show other than bravery and patriotism. Such promise, so little progress. Talk to these brave men who flew these missions and they express regret over what was lost. But, there is still chance that we can regain the lost ground. It is for this hope we continue.

    H G

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous22 July, 2009

    I have a hard time just flying to Jamica...cant imaging going to the moon. Thank you for your sweet comment. Sweet blogs like this make it all the more fun!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment! Please come back~