I was 10

I always liked the congruence of 4th of July and fireworks with the Apollo 11 moon landing. It just seems appropriate. Why don't we launch a rocket every July 4? I mean NASA, not me and you necessarily. But feel free.

I was happy to read Bob's memory of the lunar landing. I know I've heard the story before, but it's a good story and I am glad that my dad had a hand in making it possible through his whole rural electrification routine. Let's hear it for the boys at White River!

While I do remember the moon landing, I don't remember much. I can vaguely recall seeing the black and white images on the TV, but I was a bit young to grasp the gravity of it all. I probably got about a sixth of it. (Ahem) I do have a Saturn V memory to share sometime, maybe soon, since we are having this great anniversary.

In the meantime, I read a great story about another man's memory of 20 July 1969, and it is well worth your time. I won't try to recap it here but please go and read it, you'll be glad you did.

When I was 15 we went to the Moon

I can't let today's 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, the first manned landing on the Moon, slip by without at least a brief comment here on The Porch. Just before I logged on to my blog, I visited James Lileks' The Bleat. I thought there was a good chance that he would have mentioned the anniversary, and I was right. I left my comment about what I remember about that day, and instead of re-typing all of that, here's the link.

(Mike, Dolores, Trish, and Dave, I mentioned how your dad restored the electricity to Poppy's farm in time, so we were able to watch the broadcast - scroll down to the fourth comment - and you may have to click on "prev." or page 1 first.)


What a proud moment.

After America made it to the moon, the ability to do so became a catch phrase, as in, "Well if we can land a man on the moon, why can't we _____" (fill in the blank with whatever we ought to get done). Some years passed, the Apollo program came to a close, Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project came and went, and even with the (then) upcoming Shuttle flights, we wouldn't send a man out of Earth orbit again. Then I heard the saying this way, "Well if we can land a man on the moon, why can't we land a man on the moon now?" Earlier today I read an article on space.com which addresses that.

As worthwhile as the Shuttle program has been, and as impressive as the International Space Station is, I sure hope I live long enough to see someone either return to the Moon, or attempt a voyage to Mars or to one of the close approach asteroids. I hate to think we've been ripped off, but sometimes it sure seems that way.