Today, July 16, marks the 40th anniversary of the day the Apollo 11 rocket was launched into orbit. Its mission: to send three brave American astronauts to accomplish the impossible – walking on the moon. The New York Times Online did an awesome photo slideshow entitled, “Readers’ Moon Memories,” which documents through photo and words readers memories of what they were doing when the astronauts first walked on the moon.
Joe Knapp of Columbus, Ohio says, “I followed every space shot avidly & saved some random clippings from the day, including this Apollo Moon Landing Guide. It said “Save this page for future moon landings” — evidently I complied (age 14!).”
Another reader, John McGuiness writes, “The McGuinness family watching the moon landing from the TV room, we stayed up late, and Mark the youngest had to have all his apollo models out to instruct his family on the spacecraft. That night is a memory that we all have instilled in our history. Just like ‘where were you when JFK died'”
Reader Jim Hackett was stationed overseas. He writes, “After fending off some pesky North Vietnamese with well placed .50 caliber machine gun fire, my fellow Marine Corps buddies settled in for another long night of sameness. Around five PM we received a radio message that man had landed on the moon. We opened up a can of peaches to celebrate.”
After reading and viewing these quotes and photos, it made me realize how important this day is in the history of America. To be young and witness something as remarkable as men walking on the moon must have been an out-of-this-world experience! (no pun intended). Today, technology is moving at such a rapid-pace, that lunar landings and space travel almost seems dated. I think, though, it is still important to look back at accomplishments such as these, to see how they pulled us together as a nation — abroad and at home, old and young — and find importance in that.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/showcase-19/
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/13/science/071409_WHERE_index.html?ref=science