I remember sitting and watching this as it happened, live.

(H/T Ace)

Hard to believe it has been thirty-nine years -- and that it has been three-and-a-half decades since man last walked on the moon.

And that our space program has been such a mess in the decades since that I'll be approaching sixty before Americans again set foot on Earth's closest neighbor. I doubt I'm alone in considering that to be shameful.

On the other hand, I am blessed to have a number of friends -- honest-to-God rocket scientists -- who work over at Johnson Space Center. Among other things, one of them is working on Project Constellation, hoping to see Americans back on the moon before his daughters finish college. It is history in the making, made by ordinary men and women doing extraordinary things.

And I'm also blessed to be friends with a number of old NASA hands who tell some of the funniest "inside stories" about the glory days. One couple that I love dearly told me stories about a group of NASA wives making dinners for the families of the Apollo crews during the missions -- and how thirty-nine years ago their kids made a killing selling lemonade to the reporters covering the Armstrong home just around the corner, since it was a typical sweltering July here in Houston. It's the sort of stuff that doesn't make it into the history books.

So take a moment to remember that moment when mankind accomplished one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century.

Posted by: Greg at 08:44 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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