Monday, July 15, 2019

A Lunar Anniversary...by Kristin Wallace


Did you know there's a historic anniversary coming up this month? 50 years ago - on July 20, 1969 - Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. Minutes later, Buzz Aldrin joined him. Armstrong’s line “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” remains one of the most iconic statements in history. 

History of the Moon Landing

The seeds of the “moon shot” began in the late 1950s. In 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower established the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. This led to the formation of Project Mercury, the first American program aimed at launching humans into space. The astronauts in that program included: Alan Shepard (first American in space), John Glenn (first American to orbit the earth), Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra, and Donald “Deke” Slayton. 

Then in 1961, President John F. Kennedy launched a grand idea that the nation should “…commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”

Eight years later, on July 16, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on board. On July 20, the lunar module known as the “Eagle” landed on the moon. 

It’s amazing to think that 50 years have gone by. The occasion will be marked with a series of anniversary celebrations at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas, and other cities across the country. Maybe you’ll get a chance to catch one of the events!


Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and sweet contemporary romance filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. Her latest book, SECOND CHANCE HERO, is available now.  

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4 comments:

Sarah Raplee said...

I'm old enough to remember my dad buying a color tv to watch the moon landing. What a thrill for a sixteen-year-old Science Fiction Reader!

I get angry every time I here about the "moon-landing-never-really-happened" conspiracy theory. Have you heard the argument that the technology was too primitive? Guess what? It was cutting edge for the time.

People originally calculated rocket trajectories using a primitive-but-effective little instrument called a 'slide rule'. In fact, Sci-Fi writers in the 1940s and 1950s figured interplanetary travel would depend on teams of slide rule wizzes. Advances in computer technology made for the Space Race meant engineering students had hand-held "engineering calculators" that replaced slide rules less than a decade after the moon landing. Personal computers were priced within reach of middle class families.

Take that, conspiracy theorists!

Luanna Stewart said...

First of all, it can't be 50 years because I remember watching the event on our black & white TV and I'm only 39 so... So much of our modern technology came from innovations necessary to achieve manned flight into space. For good or ill, we wouldn't be where we are now as a society without the Apollo missions, or the advances would have happened much later.

Judith Ashley said...

Had to laugh at Luanna's comment. Didn't have a color t.v. but I remember being glued to our little black and white one. My son was 6 years old and a lot had happened in my young life by that time but seeing the Moon Landing was an inspiring, transcendent experience. So much hope filled my heart in that moment. I later dated a man who worked at Mission Control and learned how challenging, how stressful that work was. To hold the lives of these men in their hands or as Sarah reminds us at the end of their slide rulers.

I'm still transfixed by images from space. Each year I purchase a Hubble Photo calendar and wonder anew each month at the universe(s) we live in.

Thanks for reminding me of one of my life's most wondrous times, Kristin.

Deb N said...

It is amazing that it has been 50 years. I had just graduated from high school. But then, I've spent the last year getting ready for my 50th high school reunion, which I had in May, so I am slowing admitting that, yes, it has been 50 years. But reading your blog, it also makes me think of so many transforming events that have taken place in my "short" life. And how many of those transforming events are now a daily occurrence as new medical break-throughs and other scientific events take place.

Thanks for an interesting blog!