On this day in 1969 two men ventured out of a small lunar module to step foot on a surface unexplored-the moon. The American public sat and waited by their television sets eager for the moment when the “Eagle” landed on the cratered surface. In the 60s, man took great risk to explore worlds that had never been explored before. The Apollo program proved to mankind that we can exceed the far reaches of our planet and go where “no man has gone before.”
It’s been forty-four years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. I wasn’t around for the lunar landing but my father was 10 years old. He sat in his living room with his parents and his three siblings as Neil descended down the ladder to the moon’s surface. A nation held their breaths as he tested the ground beneath him. With one swift jump, Neil landed with both feet on the moon. He spoke the words as famous as the events themselves: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
My dad’s memory of the lunar landing remains vivid in his mind after so many years. The events inspired him to one day get a job with a contractor out at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. His hopes and dreams were to one day see us go back to the moon, mars and beyond. Growing up on the space coast of Florida inspired me to grow passionate for American space flight. I learned at an early age just how important it was to explore and adventure beyond our limits. What has Apollo 11 taught me? It has taught me that with perseverance and great courage anything is possible. Man was made to explore, adventure and discover the endless possibilities in life. I hope and dream that we are able to go back to the moon and planets beyond in my life time.
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because 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, and the others, too.” President John F. Kennedy
Learning to Fly 