Today is the annivesary of the first man walking on the moon. I can never forget how excited I was. I wanted to be there or on olater misssions so very much but had physical considerations that negated that. My heart was there. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." I had a tape recorder going ( the old reel type) and took a picture of my black and white TV screen.
I had ties to future moon missions and our town was the only one during those days that had two moon mission astronauts. As such we were awarded the first Space and science center where you could sit in an Apollo module and later ride in a simulator. There was a moon rock... something I coveted for my own rock collection. And to me the coolest thing, my family knew both of those astronauts. James McDevitt and Al Worden. Al had been my baby sitter back in the days when our parents played pinochle together.
Later 21 astronauts were to come from Michigan, but those first two from the Apollo missions to the moon were the ones that truly inspired me.
Now, we have recently seen the launch of the last (at least for now) Shuttle mission and for see future moon travel leading up to a Mars walk. Wow! Wish I could go. And today July 21st the shuttle returned safely for the last time.
One giant leap indeed!
krh
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