I know this post will date me, but I remember the evening of July 20, 1969 very well. I was back east with my mother’s family, sitting in my uncle’s living room. We all gathered about the television set to watch history being made.
Neil Armstrong emerged from the lunar capsule. “That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind,” he said to the world via the radio transmission almost 240,000 miles away, as he left his foot print in the lunar dust - the first man on the moon.
This feat consummated the space race between the two Cold War super powers, the United States and the former Soviet Union, which started more than a decade before the moon walk.
October 1957, the sighting of Soviet satellite, Sputnik, inspired the son of a West Virginian coal miner. Homer Hickam and his friends, overcoming many obstacles, designed rockets and won science fairs, for which they were awarded scholarships to go to college.
Homer Hickam wrote about this in his book “Rocket Boys” released in 1998. In 1999, a movie was made, an anagram of the original title - “October Sky.”
The 30th anniversary of the moon walk, July 1999, Homer Hickam’s Wall Street Journal article - Time to Be Great Again - reflects on this moment of history: Time to Be Great Again
Much has been and will be said of this 40th anniversary, but this "Rocket Boy" said it very well ten years ago.
Related links:
Photos from everystockphoto.com:
Neil Armstrong On The Moon: everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=1989648
Homer Hickam’s official site: http://www.homerhickam.com/
Time to Be Great Again: www.homerhickam.com/books/time_great.htm
October Sky: www.imdb.com/title/tt0132477
I enjoyed your post on the Apollo 11 landing. I was in our family living room. We lived on a busy street, and there was absolutely no traffic that evening.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bonnie. The moon landing was trully awesome. Susan
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