One small step

If ever there was a moment in history that I wish I could’ve been there for, forty years ago today would be one of them. Space has always fascinated and inspired me. I still feel a stir in my heart when I hear the words and see the pictures of the moment when we stood in another place in the universe.

You are go for landing.

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Several years earlier, President Kennedy, speaking at Rice University, had inspired a nation with these words:

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not becasue they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.
– John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962

I am left to wonder if we still have that same spirit. Do we still choose things because they are hard, because they will test and challenge us? Or have we chosen the easy way in too many things?

So go outside. Look at the moon. Remember that men have stood there. And decide to be inspired. Decide to do something because it will challenge you.

You can relive the mission with photos and the audio transmission at We Choose the Moon. Astronomy Picture of the Day is one place to see some great images too – From the Moon to the Earth & Onto a New World. And I can also recommend the autobiography of flight director Gene Kranz, Failure is Not an Option, be inspired by one of the countless men who took us to our wildest dreams.