The Eagle has landed.....

It's hard to believe that it's been 40 years since Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on another cosmic body.....the Moon. Hard to believe that from Alan Shepard's first 15 minute ride into space in 1961, we developed the technology to send men to land on the moon just 8 years later.

If you weren't old enough to have been around in the 1960's to witness the "space race" culminating in the "moon shot", it was an amazing time. The venture into space was the cutting edge of technology, at a time when new technology wasn't a daily part of life. We are technology jaded today. Then, with only three broadcast TV channels, most of the population was glued to the family TV watching this all unfold. The astronauts were tops on the hero list.

As has been noted in recent times, the computers that guided the Apollo 11 spacecraft had less computing power than today's small personal cellphones. Watching and listening as Neil Armstrong overrode the computer to land the Eagle moon lander by his own piloting skills has to be one of the most thrilling moments of TV history. In total, twenty-four American astronauts have traveled to the Moon, with twelve walking on its surface. The lunar landings occurred over a short 3 year period, the last coming in December of 1972. Quite frankly the technological task of getting us to the moon in 2009 would be a daunting prospect. To do it in 1969 was nothing short of phenomenal.

The photo above is a shot I took with an old camera of the TV screen on July 20th 1969, with Neil Armstrong already on the lunar surface [right] and Buzz Aldrin climbing down the Eagle's ladder to join Armstrong. One of my prize possessions, courtesy of my brother at NASA is a personally autographed copy of Gene Cernans' great book, "Last Man on the Moon". Gene was the last man to have trod on the lunar surface.