Rant #2,411: Everyone's Gone To the Moon

Beginning on July 19, 1969, and over the next several days, the world watched as one of mankind's most stupendous achievements unfolded before our eyes.

And with television as our guide, people around the globe didn't have to miss a thing.

But it all started with mundane housekeeping chores aboard the Columbia, performed by the crew: Commander Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins.

A course correction had been canceled, and the crew knew that the next day was going to be the biggest one for them, as the mission that President Kennedy directed--the U.S landing on the moon--would finally take place the next day, on July 20.

With everything going well, the crew was given some extra sleep time to prepare for the big day.

On July 20, sometime after 9 a.m. in the morning, Aldrin crawled through the command module Columbia to the lunar module Eagle, to power on the module, the capsule that would take him and Armstrong to the moon's surface.

At about 1:30 p.m., the astronauts were in the Eagle module when it separated from the mother ship on its trek to the moon.

After several computer glitches, at 4:18 p.m., the phrase "The Eagle has landed" came into the lexicon, as the capsule holding Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon.

Much had to be done before either man could actually walk on the lunar surface, and more than six and a half hours later, the time had come.

The hatch opened. Armstrong exited, backing out of the module with Aldrin watching for any glitches. Armstrong turned on the module's TV camera, so mankind could join him in his endeavor.

At 10:56 p.m., Armstrong's feet met the moon's surface, and he uttered the immortal lines, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

For the next two and a half hours or so, Armstrong--joined by Aldrin on the moon at 11:11 p.m.-- collected moon rock samples, planted the American flag and a plaque commemorating this accomplishment, and simply cavorted with the majesty of where they were and what they were doing. They also took a phone call from President Nixon.

By 1:11 a.m.on July 21, it was over.

At about 1:54 p.m., the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Slightly less than four hours later, at 5:35 p.m., the Eagle successfully docked with the Columbia and rejoined Collins.

On July 22, Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:51 p.m. on July 24.

Mission accomplished.

As far as what I was doing while all of this was happening, we were still in the Catskill Mountains on vacation on the day of the lunar walk, but our vacation was ending and we were leaving that day to come home.

I remember that I could not wait to get home, because I wanted to watch the men on moon at home.

I don't remember everything about that day, but we left in the morning for the ride back home, and I distinctly remember that somewhere on that ride, we hit some tremendous traffic, which held us up quite a long time. I thought we were going to miss everything, not realizing that the moon walk was going to happen much later.

Finally, we got home, unpacked, and I think I even went outside to find my friends later in the afternoon. By this point, I knew that the moon walk would take place later that evening, so I knew I would see it at home.

After dinner, our old and reliable black and white Dumont TV went on, and stayed on for many hours. While my sister and my parents ended up going to sleep, I stayed up to see Armstrong touch down on the moon, later joined by Aldrin, and I watched the entire thing on that TV.

When it was over, I went to sleep, and how I got up the next morning to go to day camp I will never know, but I do remember that the moon walk was the conversation of the day.

Or at least I think it was.

I honestly don't remember much about the Apollo 11 mission after the moon walk. I don't know if I had tuned out of the return of the spacecraft, or at least I was overloaded with everything that had gone on the past few days, but I really don't remember the splash down nor the subsequent heroes' welcome the crew got, nor the parades and all the other hoopla.

I guess I had maxed out when Armstrong and Aldrin took their walks, and that was enough for me.

There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, not including the failed Apollo 13 mission, but none would have the allure of the first mission. I watched all of those, too, but by the final mission, public interest waned, and by Apollo 17, which left the moon on December 14, 1972, the mission to the moon was over.

We have been in kind of a stand still since then with such exploration. We have sent up numerous unmanned spacecraft, we have sent up numerous astronauts on missions like Skylab and the space shuttle, but public interest--and government money--lessened over the decades, and we have not had a mission to the moon in more than 40 years.

Other countries have joined the fray, including China--which landed on the dark side of the moon earlier this year--and even tiny Israel, which tried to land a craft on the moon early this year but crash landed.

And the Russians are always there, too.

We have had the Challenger disaster, we have had many ups and downs over the past decades, and we have partnered with other countries as well as private concerns to put men and machinery in space.

But another manned moon mission? No, that has not happened.

There is talk that by the 2030s we will once again be voyaging into space, possibly even to Mars, but it just seems so far away now. Will it ever be accomplished? Who knows.

But for this 12 year old boy back in July 1969--and for the world at this time--the dream became a reality. We galvanized together, not just as a country but as a planet, maybe for the last time, and it was an incredible journey not only for the three astronauts, but for mankind.

I can only personally hope we get such a plan going again, and that we make Mars the next target. If you were around during 1969, you know just how invigorating such a mission was, how it made us feel better and told us that whatever dreams we had could be accomplished.

I know in my heart that we can do it again, and it is something that this country and world needs right now--to put aside petty nonsense and galvanize together in the glory of mankind.