Friends,
Forty years ago today, the first American astronauts strode upon the moon. When I was three years old, I watched the moon landing on CBS. Uncle Walter, when he or his analysts couldn’t actually describe a procedure, resorted to dramatic recreations of maneuvers using spaceships on sticks and waving them around the studio. Now they were speaking my language. Did I mention I was three?
Two other things I recall were that this whole thing wouldn’t have seemed like a big deal, considering that we’d been flying around in space my entire life, but that it made Uncle Walter cry. It was either momentous or sad, and I really didn’t have the tools to tell which was which.
Now, of course, the space shuttle is docked at the International Space Station fixing the toilets. Progress!
– bob