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Men on the Moon
7/20/2009
As a child I had the above mural on the wall of my room. It was a picture of the earth taken from the moon and I was a total space nut. I visited the Air and Space Museum at every chance, loved all things science fiction, and could dimly recall watching the actual lunar landing on TV with my parents. The U.S. space program seemed to offer such promise and represented such a noble flexing of our nations spirit and intellect.
Today marks the 40th anniversary of that landing. So much of the optimism and promise of the space era seems to have evaporated. Perhaps it's my age, but our Nation seems somehow smaller, and meeker than in the past. Watching the documentary "In the Shadow of the Moon" I'm struck by just how ballsy, how uncertain, and how unlikely the whole mission was. But it succeeded and enriched us all in more ways than can be counted.
So today I'm feeling very up, and plan to take a lunch break to stroll over to the Air and Space Museum (perks of working on the Mall). But my satisfaction is more than a bit blunted by hearing that it the Europeans or Chinese who are most likely to first put a man on Mars...
7/20/2009 | Permanent Link
