Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong stepped off a ladder and uttered these words, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." (The "a" was lost in the static but that is what he actually said.)
With that one step, the US beat the Russians to the moon. Well, we beat them by putting a man up there...they did beat us by putting a space craft up there first. We still won "the space race"! Take that Russia! (That doesn't work nearly as well now that the Cold War is over!)
I just read today that Nixon's PR guy had a speech ready in the event that NASA could not recover the astronaunts from the moon. The speech was released in 1999 but I had never heard of it. Of course, as a PR person, I can see the need for this "back up plan". If I had been one of the astronauts, I would hope they left out the fact that they had the plan while I was on the moon! Here is the speech...thank God it never had to be read...
"Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding. They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown. In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man. In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts. For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind. "
Those that were willing...and still are willing...to sit on top of pretty much a complex bomb and go into space amaze me! I love NASA...but I would prefer to work sitting safely at mission control.
At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, there is a large, black granite wall that reflects in the sun. On that wall are the names of every astronaut that the US has lost during the space program. It is a sobering reminder that some gave all to "reach for the stars".
I think President Ronald Reagan said it best (OK...it was probably his PR guy) when he spoke the following words after we lost the Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986. He said of the seven member crew (one of which was the first teacher to go...or attempt to go...into space), "...The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God'." That last part is actually from a poem and works so very well at the end of Reagan's speech to the nation. To this day, if I hear that speech I cry.
To wrap this one up I will pull out a movie quote. Here are the last words in the voiceover by Tom Hanks in the movie Apollo 13....the Apollo mission that didn't make the moon but was a success in that we got the astronauts home alive..."I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the Moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?" I too wonder when and who...
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