Fifty years ago today I was, along with my family and the rest of the world, glued to our black and white television set. And I have to confess something: when Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) set foot on the moon he uttered these words: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” I couldn’t figure out what he meant. I was once told that he was supposed to say: “That’s one giant leap for a man, one giant leap for mankind” and that makes more sense.
But more to the point, I knew as a 9 year old that I was watching something that would be in history books. I witnessed something that future generations would only read about.
July 20, 1969 was a good day for America, but it was also a good day for all humanity. We are born to explore, whether it be Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), or Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), or Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008).
Fifty years later we still have the same curiosity over what lies beyond. Space travel continues to fascinate us as next frontier. Fifty years later we may not know the next step, but we know there will be a next step.
While we celebrate, let us also remember the costs of space travel. The space race in the United States has yielded sixteen lives and we should honor them. They died in our quest to explore:
- Gus Grissom 1926-1967
- Roger Chaffee 1935-1967
- Ed White 1930-1967
- Christa McAuliffe 1948-1986
- Gregory Jarvis 1944-1986
- Judith Resnik 1949-1986
- Ronald McNair 1950-1986
- Michael Smith 1945-1986
- Ellison Onizuka 1946-1986
- Rick Husband 1957-2003
- William McCool 1961-2003
- Michael Anderson 1959-2003
- Ilan Ramon 1954-2003
- Kalpana Chawla 1962-2003
- David Brown 1956-2003
- Laurel Clark 1961-2003