When an eagle changed the course of Human History
There are very few events that are significant enough to represent the start of a new epoch in human history, but July 20, 1969, 40 years ago today, was one such event. I speak of the day when our species first set foot on the Moon. that faithful day when Apollo 11 with it's three astronauts, Neil Alden Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr finally landed in the Sea of Tranquility, some 240,000 miles away, signaling the first time that humanity moved beyond the bounds of our own world and onto another, singling the birth of a new, greater age of exploration.
What an amazing achievement for America, and indeed the world. All our history we looked up at the night sky and wondered what it would be like on the Moon, and for most of that history such an idea remained pure fantasy. However, on that fateful day, only 8 years after the first human entered space around the Earth, our species for the first time moved beyond our cradle of the Earth and took those first tentative steps into the universe. Imagine what it must have been like to be there, looking back and seeing the Earth hanging in the dark sky, the home of everyone who ever lived and until then, every event in history, all on that blue-green sphere hanging in the vastness of space. That had to be so incredibility humbling and yet awe inspiring all at the same time.
We traveled back five more times, but nothing was like that first great moment when Neal Armstrong made the first human step on the lunar surface. Sadly we haven't been back since 1972. However, this hopefully will all change, the new goal is toreturn to the Moon around 2020, and even establish a base there (which would be the next logical step), but all of this is just a stepping stone for the next great leap forward, the first human mission to Mars, tentatively around 2032. Imagine who awesome that would be, as Mars is an order of magnitude further away, and the first world we would step on outside the Earth-Moon system, perhaps finally establishing us as a species no longer bound to a single world.
For now, Happy Anniversary to Apollo 11! The mission that will forever divide human history to before and after the first moment when we truly became a species that could travel beyond our home.
Thanks to the wonders of modern reconstruction techniques, here is a brief montage of digitally cleaned up and restored footage from the Apollo 11 mission itself:
Just imagine what could happen in the next 40 years, I like to think we are only at the dawn of great achievements, especially in that "final frontier". Our species has unlimited potential, and we have already shown what we can do when we put aside doubt and focus on the goal at hand.
What an amazing achievement for America, and indeed the world. All our history we looked up at the night sky and wondered what it would be like on the Moon, and for most of that history such an idea remained pure fantasy. However, on that fateful day, only 8 years after the first human entered space around the Earth, our species for the first time moved beyond our cradle of the Earth and took those first tentative steps into the universe. Imagine what it must have been like to be there, looking back and seeing the Earth hanging in the dark sky, the home of everyone who ever lived and until then, every event in history, all on that blue-green sphere hanging in the vastness of space. That had to be so incredibility humbling and yet awe inspiring all at the same time.
We traveled back five more times, but nothing was like that first great moment when Neal Armstrong made the first human step on the lunar surface. Sadly we haven't been back since 1972. However, this hopefully will all change, the new goal is toreturn to the Moon around 2020, and even establish a base there (which would be the next logical step), but all of this is just a stepping stone for the next great leap forward, the first human mission to Mars, tentatively around 2032. Imagine who awesome that would be, as Mars is an order of magnitude further away, and the first world we would step on outside the Earth-Moon system, perhaps finally establishing us as a species no longer bound to a single world.
For now, Happy Anniversary to Apollo 11! The mission that will forever divide human history to before and after the first moment when we truly became a species that could travel beyond our home.
Thanks to the wonders of modern reconstruction techniques, here is a brief montage of digitally cleaned up and restored footage from the Apollo 11 mission itself:
Click to view
Just imagine what could happen in the next 40 years, I like to think we are only at the dawn of great achievements, especially in that "final frontier". Our species has unlimited potential, and we have already shown what we can do when we put aside doubt and focus on the goal at hand.