To the Moon and Back

On September 12, 1962 at Rice University Stadium in Houston, TX president Kennedy spoke these historic words: “We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, […]”.

On July 20, 1969 2 NASA astronauts made good on JFK’s words on the Apollo 11 mission. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent little less than a day on the moon. All the while, Michael Collins circled the moon. Neil Armstrong was the 1st of only 12 men that ever stepped foot on an other celestial body other than Earth.

Apollo 11’s command module is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum In Washington DC. It goes without saying that I just had to go and see it when I visited Washington DC last year. I spent over 15 minutes gawking at this piece of history. This spacecraft went to the moon! It went to the moon and then came back. And what always strikes me is how tiny the spacecraft is. I find it hard to imagine living it such tight quarters with 3 persons for about 10 days or so.

Neil Armstrong’s actual spacesuit is on display next to the Apollo 11 command module. These 2 items are really a piece of history.