Well, it can’t have escaped your attention. I imagine that whatever news sources you use are full of stories about today being the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon. (Well, the first by human beings, anyway. 🙂 )
I won’t be writing a long thoughtful piece reflecting on the matter. Right now, I can’t really think of much to say that has not been said. Perhaps it is just because it is too hot here. I’m not sure.
However, I will encourage you to find a quiet moment sometime today, stop, look up, and think about just how simply remarkable it is that we did that. It is a triumph of science, technology, and human spirit. Think about what we can do when we put our minds to it, and what we might be able to achieve again.
And then let’s all get on with the business of doing those things…
-cvj
In a sense we have gone backwards since then. The greatest achievements of aerospace engineering can only now be seen in a museum: the Saturn 5, the SR71 Blackbird and Concorde–there is still nothing that can match them. But anyway, here are three really excellent documentaries on the Apollo program
For All Mankind, part 1:
Failure Is Not An Option, part 1:
In the Shadow of the Moon (the most recent), part 1,
with a lot of very recent interviews with Apollo astronauts.
Other parts at the side of course at the youtube page. All well worth taking the time to watch some time.
Hope the links work ok.
Thank you for sharing that quite lovely scene.
Best,
-cvj
Forty years ago, I spent the summer in Mexico at my cousin’s house, built inside his ice factory. Although three people in that town of 5,800 people owned television sets–the doctor and my other cousin who owned a gas station being the other two–only Jaime invited the townspeople to watch the moon landing at his house. I struggled to hear snippets of Walter Cronkite speaking between the Spanish newscasters’ translations (I longed to hear English after two months in Mexico). The townspeople, many of whom wore homespun clothing and sandals, lined up and took turns watching men walking on the moon. They’d stand in the doorway, quietly watching for a few seconds, then yield to the next person in line for as long as the coverage was shown. At one point, my cousins and I felt an overwhelming desire to see the real thing, so we ran into the back yard and looked up, yelling “Hola, Capitan!” at the moon. I’ve always felt lucky that I saw the moon landing at the ice factory in Mexico.