There
are a few events that most of remember vividly: where we were; what was going
on in our lives; what the ramifications were. September 11, 2001 and November
22, 1963 are two dates that have meaning and invoke emotional reactions.
July
20, 1969 was one of the more magical events that I remember: the day a human (Neil
Armstrong) first stepped on the surface of the moon. Next Saturday will be the 50th
anniversary of that momentous occasion.
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Footprint
of Edwin Aldrin, the second man to walk the Moon’s surface (photo retrieved 16
July 2019 from https://www.space.com/16758-apollo-11-first-moon-landing.html)
Perhaps
because I was a geologist that I found this particular exploration of a big
rock in space amazing. It is a field trip I would probably have wished to
undertake, except for the fact that I might not have been able to survive being
cooped up in a small craft for a long period of time on the way there and back.
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The
Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew, pictured from left to right, Neil A. Armstrong,
commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar
module pilot. (photo retrieved 15 July 2019 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_11_Crew.jpg)
Landing
on the moon was one of humankind’s greatest achievements. It capped off less
than a century of events involving powered, human flight that began with the
Wright brothers’ flying machine launched on 17 December 1903.
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The
first powered, controlled, sustained airplane flight in history. Orville
Wright, age 32, is at the controls of the machine, lying prone on the lower
wing with hips in the cradle which operated the wing-warping mechanism. His
brother, Wilbur Wright, age 36, ran alongside to help balance the machine,
having just released his hold on the forward upright of the right wing. The
starting rail, the wing-rest, a coil box, and other items needed for flight
preparation are visible behind the machine. Orville Wright pre-set the camera
and had John T. Daniels squeeze the rubber bulb, tripping the shutter. (photo
first published in 1908; image retrieved 16 July 2019 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer)
The
aviation industry literally “took off” following the flight of the Wright Flyer. Within a generation, fixed
wing aircrafts had moved from primitive boxes with one pilot to monster
machines capable of carrying hundreds of people and using technology never
dreamed of even a few decades previously.
The
largest passenger airliner is the Airbus A380-800. This double-decker A380 is
able to carry, theoretically, up to 850 passengers at a time, however most of
its operators have opted for a 450 to 550 passenger layout. That is still a lot
of people!
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Airbus
A380-800 (photo retrieved 16 July 2019 from https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-largest-airplanes/index.html?gallery=-1)
By
the way, the landing gear for the Apollo 11 lunar module was designed and made
by a Canadian company, Quebec's Heroux-DEVTEK. Canadians, in fact, played
important roles in the US space project (https://www.trurodaily.com/living/canadians-played-integral-part-in-getting-apollo-11-crew-to-moon-and-back-151420/).
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The
Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" was the first crewed vehicle to
land on the Moon. It carried two astronauts, Commander Neil A. Armstrong and LM
pilot Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. (photo retrieved 16 July 2019 from https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1969-059C)
But
leaving the Earth and going to space is still the most exciting dream – as
Captain James T. Kirk said in the icon series, Star Trek: “To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man
has gone before!”
So
where was I during this important event. Like millions of others, I was glued
to the television watching in real time (or at least a few seconds delayed)
while the Eagle landed and Neil Armstrong stepped out on to the Moon. Also like
many others I am sure, I took photos of the TV screen to document the historic
event. These pictures are now part of our family album.
I
have the December 1969 issue of National Geographic magazine that told the
story of the 1969 landing. Now I also have the 50th anniversary
issue as well documenting the history and future of the space program.
When
you think about it, many of our ancestors also went where no one had gone
before, at least to settle new lands and raise families with few restrictions,
kind of like stepping out of a lunar module on the lands no one else had trod.
