Forums >Off the Beaten Path>One small step for a man; one giant leap....
Can anyone recommend a good book, maybe written by someone who was close to the mission? I find myself geeking out over space stuff now, I've really enjoyed following SpaceX. I just wish I had been an adult during Apollo 11, to have appreciated what was achieved. I was six, don't really remember much.
This is great post thanks! Coincidentally I JUST started watching “first man” last night. Love all that nerdy space stuff. Loved the 50s-60s even tho I wasn’t born till the 70s.
I haven’t finished the movie but I’m already obsessed and googling details. Then I came on here to see what you all were up to and I find this post..,,
fate...
So one day back at the very dawn of the digital age, a guy walks into a room says....I need you to figure out a way to get a person from there to there and back, and points at this: ...and oh, by the way...you have less than 10 years. I believe to this day that I will never experience anything in my lifetime like that of living in the Apollo age of adventure. They were truly the Greatest Generation. I can close my eyes and picture the living room on that July where we watched. The heat of a July night in the WV hills....the sense of absolute amazement and wonder that this could possibly happen...the gasp from everyone when he stepped off the landing leg...everyone's struggling to hear what Armstrong had said....I have not the words.
So one day back at the very dawn of the digital age, a guy walks into a room says....I need you to figure out a way to get a person from there to there and back, and points at this:
...and oh, by the way...you have less than 10 years.
I believe to this day that I will never experience anything in my lifetime like that of living in the Apollo age of adventure. They were truly the Greatest Generation.
I can close my eyes and picture the living room on that July where we watched. The heat of a July night in the WV hills....the sense of absolute amazement and wonder that this could possibly happen...the gasp from everyone when he stepped off the landing leg...everyone's struggling to hear what Armstrong had said....I have not the words.
Time to bump this. Stop scrolling. Look up. Believe in something bigger and better.
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an amazing likeness
At 10:56 p.m. EDT July 20, 1969: Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."Aldrin joins him shortly, and offers a simple but powerful description of the lunar surface: "magnificent desolation." They explore the surface for two and a half hours, collecting samples and taking photographs.They leave behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle's legs. It reads, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
I have heard the story about how the word "a" was cut from the audio of one of the most well known quotes in history. I find it fascinating because it changes so much of the quote.
So when he says "one small step for a man" he is referencing himself as an individual. But most of us only know the quote to be a more confusing statement saying it's a small step for all of us but a giant leap for all of us.
not bad for mile 25
I have heard the story about how the word "a" was cut from the audio of one of the most well known quotes in history. I find it fascinating because it changes so much of the quote. So when he says "one small step for a man" he is referencing himself as an individual. But most of us only know the quote to be a more confusing statement saying it's a small step for all of us but a giant leap for all of us.
My ears/brain heard the "a" in the original broadcast, and I was surprised to hear commentators repeat it without the "a". Possible that my brain fixed it for logical reasons. We tend to elide such words, anyway.
One day at a time
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/07/13/armstrongs-famous-one-small-step-quote-explained/
For time I'm seeing this post, so I apologize if someone has already mentioned this.
I would recommend "Carrying the Fire" by Michael Collins, the Command Module Pilot of Apollo 11.
I prefer it over Thomas Wolfe's "The Right Stuff"
“I have been places and done things you simply would not believe. I feel like saying: I have dangled from a cord a hundred miles up; I have seen the earth eclipsed by the moon, and enjoyed it. I have seen the sun’s true light, unfiltered by any planet’s atmosphere. I have seen the ultimate black of infinity in a stillness undisturbed by any living thing.
I do have this secret...this precious thing, that I will always carry with me.”
Michael Collins October 31, 1930 – April 28, 2021
Thanks for posting this, one of my early heroes. My early dream was to be an astronaut.
My dream was to be an aerospace engineer, but the market wasn't great in the '80s so I stuck with structural. I would have loved to work for NASA, though. I'm jealous of our friends' son-in-law, who is very involved with space suit design for the agency.
Interval Junkie --Nobby
My dream was to be an aerospace engineer . . .
Mine was to be a fighter jet test pilot . . . basically the feeder pool for the space program. But I grew to 6'3" and my Air Force liaison told me I'd never sit in a fighter cockpit -- just too tall. So, I went into physics, and then software engineering. But still long for a pilot's license. And my wife isn't happy that I would volunteer for a one-way to Mars.
I always wondered how Collins thought about being the loneliest man ever to have existed, and denied stepping on the moon. I always imagined he was a bigger man than to be slightly bitter about that, and in that sense a hero of mine.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
I remember asking my mom how tall I would be after reading about the height requirements for the mercury capsule. Her response was no men in the Wood family are less than 6 feet, and you’re going to be one of the tall ones. So, I also changed from pilot ambitions to engineering. Then made the choice of music scholarship over engineering when entering college. I still keep track of NASA. One of my favorite toys I bought for myself was a Mars rover. I watched that landing just as intently as I watched the moon walk.
But I grew to 6'3" and just too tall.
I listened to hours of Apollo 11 in Real Time, when it was first posted at the 50th anniversary of the lunar launch. I really began to appreciate the value of each of the astronauts to the mission, especially Mike Collins.
Here is is, you space travellers: https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/
July 20, 1969...