I'm blown away by the pictures sent back from the Curiosity Mars mission: The clarity is just amazing, given that the images have traveled something like 225 million kilometers (my best guess there, I'm sure someone will correct me in the comments).
On a hot, July day in 1969, the images on television were much fuzzier, like something from a convenience store security tape, . However, those images are as clear to me today as they were over 43 years ago.
We were visiting family in Great Falls, Montana and all of us, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, my brothers and parents had gathered around the huge television set that dominated one wall of the living room. With the drama of the landing over, all of us having breathed a sigh of relief that the Lunar Module didn't sink into the surface or explode into flames, we waited patiently as Neil Armstrong began climbing down the ladder to take his first steps on the moon.
The room was silent. Even Walter Cronkite could not be moved to speak at that moment.
My cousin Danny, a year older than me, chimed up, "I bet a moon monster pops out of one of those craters and eats him!"
"Shut up, Danny!" I shot back, appalled and , my eight-year-old mind not convinced that my cousin was entirely wrong. More than that, his sarcasm had shattered a sacrosanct moment. It was as bad (or worse) than if he had started singing "Splish-Splash" while the priest was performing the Eucharist.
The room exploded in cheers as Armstrong took his first steps on the lunar surface. My bet is, the entire country cheered at that moment.
At that moment, it was as if time stood still. And indeed it had -- that moment is as clear in my memory as if it happened a few minutes ago.
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