40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing

Neil Armstrong
Originally uploaded by Samer Farha

That’s Neil Armstrong there, pointing skyward, standing with fellow astronauts Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. The three of them represent the crowning achievement of NASA’s space flight program: a successful trip to lunar orbit, and from there, the lunar surface. Forty years ago today, two men decamped from that lander, and they walked the surface of another world. They left behind a flag and a plaque that said “we came in peace for all mankind.”

I might be a bit of a nerd for saying this, and it’s just fine if you mock me, but this is the kind of stuff that gets me all misty. Today, if you see them around town (they’ll be at the White House today), ask them about the view from the moon to the Earth. You’ve seen the pictures, but they saw it live, through their own faceplates.

Their command module sits in the Air and Space Museum on the Mall, to remind us what we could do just 66 years after inventing human flight: land on another world. Take a look at Samer Farha’s set from yesterday’s event at NASM, and wonder: Will we go further than that day 40 years ago?

I do hope so.

Tom Bridge

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.

3 thoughts on “40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing”

I love this day. A lot of memories tied up into it for me; my grandfather was working at Kennedy at the time and the stories he’s got…

I need to give him a call.

It’s kinda sad that, on this 40th anniversary of the moonwalk, our astronauts are fixing the toilets on the space station.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

40 years later, how many trillions of dollars have been spent giving a handful of people the experience of a lifetime, while most Americans are in a financial crisis? We could be spending that money so much more wisely. The Endeavor alone cost $1.7 billion according to NASA. Privitization, anyone?
PurplePlease.net

Ben H. Rome on July 20, 2009 at 9:25 am said:

I love this day. A lot of memories tied up into it for me; my grandfather was working at Kennedy at the time and the stories he’s got…

I need to give him a call.
MikeBC on July 20, 2009 at 10:03 am said:

It’s kinda sad that, on this 40th anniversary of the moonwalk, our astronauts are fixing the toilets on the space station.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Purple on July 20, 2009 at 2:00 pm said:

40 years later, how many trillions of dollars have been spent giving a handful of people the experience of a lifetime, while most Americans are in a financial crisis? We could be spending that money so much more wisely. The Endeavor alone cost $1.7 billion according to NASA. Privitization, anyone?
PurplePlease.net