Not only do we
remember those immortal words, but most of us remember that they belonged to
Neil Armstrong. He claims that the phrase was spontaneous as he was caught
up in the emotions of the moment:Not only do we
remember those immortal words, but most of us remember that they belonged to
Neil Armstrong. He claims that the phrase was spontaneous as he was caught
up in the emotions of the moment:
That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind!
The moon landing of Apollo 11 culminated close to a decade of research previously highlighted on February 20, 1962, when astronaut John Glenn in Mercury capsule Friendship 7 became the first American to orbit the earth. Legendary news anchorman Walter Cronkite had noted that when Apollo 11 lifted off on July 16, 1969, "It was as if you could have stood on the dock and waved goodbye to [Christopher] Columbus." Television networks provided over 30 hours of continuous coverage, spending an unheard amount at the time of over $5 million to tell the story of the lunar landing. And, upon moon touch down when Armstrong uttered the words "Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed," for the first time in his life, Cronkite was nearly speechless, and exclaimed simply "Oh, boy!"
As Armstrong descended the steps, he did so with a seven-pound, $400,000 camera, which projected images onto our television sets that will remain forever etched in our memories. The image of Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin planting the American flag into the moon's surface was breath-taking.
Ironically, while mission control needed a room full of computer equipment and specialists to pull off the landing, the same computer power could now be harnessed in a desktop personal computer.
As we also remember the near tragedy of the space program with Apollo 13 and the ultimate tragedies of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, there was something about that first moon landing in 1969 that brought us all closer together. It was indeed, a small world.
