One small step for a man; one giant leap.... (Read 1542 times)

bhearn


    LedLincoln


    not bad for mile 25

      The age of heroes has passed.

       

      Sports heroes aren't the same.


      an amazing likeness

        Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, died Monday, Jan. 16.

         

         

        ... before long there, once again, won't be anyone alive who's walked on the moon.

        Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.


        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.

          LedLincoln


          not bad for mile 25

            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."

             

            I remember it well. We were on a family vacation, and were gathered around a TV in a Howard Johnson's lobby in Michigan with other hotel guests when we heard those scratchy words. Applause, cheering, elation, pride in the great American accomplishment.

            Teresadfp


            One day at a time

               

              I remember it well. We were on a family vacation, and were gathered around a TV in a Howard Johnson's lobby in Michigan with other hotel guests when we heard those scratchy words. Applause, cheering, elation, pride in the great American accomplishment.

               

              I remember it, too.  I had just turned 7.  I remember getting to stay up late.  I was in my PJs.  Smile


              an amazing likeness

                God speed Alan L. Bean. You were one of 12 of all of humanity.

                Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.


                an amazing likeness

                  49 years...

                   

                  4:18 p.m EDT  "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

                   

                  At 10:56 p.m. EDT 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."

                   

                  Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.

                  Altair5


                  Runs in the rain

                    I often think what it would be like to run on the moon... impossible, I think, after you pushed off with your foot you would be floating until the leading foot touched down!  Remembering the astronauts kind of bouncing along in the moon's low gravity like balloons, the fastest gait they could manage. Earth's gravity pulls us down as fast as we can run. I guess if you had superspeed power you could run fast enough that even on earth  you would lose traction for the fraction of an instant it takes for your lead foot to fall and hit the ground.

                    Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?
                    Get up, get out, get out of the door!

                      Dave

                      JimR


                        Hah!


                        an amazing likeness

                          houston Neil, we can see you coming down the ladder now.

                           

                          armstrong I’m at the foot of the ladder.

                           

                          armstrong The surface appears to be very, very fine grained, as you get close to it. It’s almost like a powder.

                           

                          armstrong O.K., I’m going to step off the LM now.

                           

                          armstrong That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

                          Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.


                          an amazing likeness

                            This picture includes every person who was alive on 21 July 1969. All of known humanity. Except one.

                             

                            Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.

                            LedLincoln


                            not bad for mile 25

                               

                               armstrong That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

                               

                              A little quibble: This is what I heard at the time, and what Armstrong says that he said, but if you re-listen to the recording, he did slough over the article.

                               

                              Yesterday I downloaded and read over the flight plan and mission report, something I hadn't done in 50 years, and they totally reinforce what an amazing feat it was.


                              an amazing likeness

                                 Yesterday I downloaded and read over the flight plan and mission report, something I hadn't done in 50 years, and they totally reinforce what an amazing feat it was.

                                 

                                 

                                “Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.”

                                — Remarks prepared for President Richard M. Nixon

                                 

                                ...Why it worked — and why the United States beat the Soviet Union to the moon after having been humiliated, repeatedly, during the early years of the Space Race — remains a compelling story of managerial vision, technological genius and astronautical dash. But it was never as breezy as NASA made it look. The first landing on the moon could easily have been the first crashing.

                                 

                                NASA’s strategy during the 1960s was built around incremental achievements, with each mission wringing out some of the risk. Still, potential disaster lurked everywhere...To put astronauts on the surface of the moon and bring them home safely, NASA had to do many things right, in succession, with margins of error ranging from small to nonexistent. “There were 23 critical things that had to occur perfectly,” recalls engineer JoAnn Morgan, the instrumentation controller in Launch Control at the Kennedy Space Center.

                                 

                                One of those things was the landing on the moon, which obviously couldn’t be practiced under realistic conditions. No one knew the nature of the moon’s surface. Hard? Soft? Powdery? Gooey? The mission planners feared that the lunar module could become instantly mired, or just sink out of sight.

                                 

                                Equally nerve-racking was the planned departure from the moon. The top half of the lunar lander, the ascent module, relied on a single engine to blast the astronauts back to lunar orbit. It had to work. If it didn’t, Nixon would have to pull out that memo...

                                 

                                (washington post)

                                Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.