40th Anniverary Of The Moon Landing

• "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."  President John F. Kennedy 
• "The Eagle has landed." Neil Armstrong
• "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong
• "Space, the final frontier" Star Trek
  

You might have heard one or more of the quotes above in connection with the moon landing of the Apollo 11.  July 20, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of this historic event.  President Kennedy ignited a drive to put a man on the moon within the decade and the U.S. did it.  There have been some big moments few are bigger are more remembered than Neil Armstrong taking that one small step.

For as long as I can remember I've always had an interest in space and space travel.  There is something exciting about using your imagination to think about how things might and could be.  I've often thought that colonizing space would give us the chance to try different things and maybe get past some of the differences that we hold here on Earth.    How exciting it would be to be able to travel faster than the speed of light, and to make use of some of those far out science fiction inventions.  Isn't it funny how our mobile phones of today resemble the communicators of Star Trek?  You also have to ask if we're not along in our universe.

I have to wonder how many people were inspired by that moon landing to do things that they might not have thought possible before that day 40 years ago?  How many people will be inspired in the future?  The moon landing proves, if nothing else, that anything is possible when we get enough of the right people involved.  If we can get a big enough goal that inspires us we can do it, no matter how crazy it might seem.


The clip below is restored footage of Apollo 11 provided at YouTube by the Associated Press.

Some more information about Apollo 11 and the moon landing...

• Apollo 40th Anniversary from NASA 

-NASA has restored several videos of the Apollo 11 mission that are available here and on YouTube

• Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing from ABC Science
  
• 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing from FOXTEL
• 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.' from DAILY NEWS
• APOLLO MOON LANDING from wftv
• Where Were You?  Stories of the Most Amazing Day On Earth

A chance for you to connect with this historic event and talk about your memories

• Welcome to...The Eagle Has Landed!
• Apollo 11 from Astronautix
• Moonlanding Memories
• Apollo 11 The Untold Story from Popular Mechanics
  

It is time to celebrate this achievement and I hope that we're now inspired to take the space program to new heights and realize that we do have a future in space. I do truly hope that the moon walk was only one small step for man.

Photocredit: "July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind" courtesy of NASA.

Good Bye to Walter Cronkite 

Walter Cronkite passed away the other day, shortly before the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.  "He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed," astronaut Neil Armstrong said.  How right Neil is. Walter Cronkite covered the moon landing and so many other historic events.

"Our job is only to hold up the mirror - to tell and show the public what has happened." Walter Cronkite

"I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that."  Walter Cronkite

And to use that famous tagline of Walter Cronkite one more time...

And That's The Way It Is