The Apollo 11 Crew

July 24, 2009

My First Word Was Moon

A lot of things happened in 1969, the year I was born.  The Stonewall riots in New York city took place, the Woodstock Festival made musical history, and unknown to most, the Internet was born when the first computer-to-computer link known as ARPANET was established.  But the biggest news of 1969 was all about a small step a fellow human being made on the surface of the moon.  On that momentous occasion, I was just a few months old, but my mom sat me in her lap and made sure I saw the events unfold on the small little black and white television in my grandmother’s house.

Fast forward 40 years later, and I found myself spending the week of July 20, 2009 using the Internet to watch all the news coverage commemorating that historic event.

For me, the week of remembering Apollo XI came to a climax Friday afternoon when Brian, Ruben and I headed down to Space Center Houston to take part in the Splashdown Party, celebrating the 40^th anniversary of Apollo’s safe return to planet Earth.  The three of us were among 3,000 other space-geeks attending the event.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get a seat in the center’s auditorium (which only seats 500 people) to watch and listen to those who made the Apollo XI mission possible (including Buzz and Neil).  Oh well, we still had fun that night exploring the center and spotting some of the folks who made history some 40 years ago.  BTW:  In addition to the traditional space equipment on display, there was a special exhibit of props from films created by George Lucas.

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