A Giant leap for Mankind

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Its been 40 years since those words and the more famous "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." were spoken allegedly from the surface the moon. Granted I am a conspiracy theorist from time to time as far as this subject is concerned but I am a big time NASA "fan" as far as manned missions are concerned and have become more of a believer the last few years.

I took a drive out to to the Kennedy Space Center in an attempt to see the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor a week ago yesterday only to have it be postponed due to weather. I did get a chance to see the launch from Orlando Airport when it eventually happened and even from about 50 miles away it was an amazing site to see.

It is easy for people to dismiss the Apollo program and the Space program as a waste of money but it is far from that. The technological and medical advances that came as a result of the space race are still felt today. Who knows what advances a trip back to the Moon or even Mars bring?

Will we ever go back? Everyone knows how much I disagree with George W. Bush on pretty much everything but I applauded his call for a return to the moon as far as manned flights are concerned. I hope to see it happen during my lifetime.

I don't know if you are aware but a speech was prepared for Richard Nixon just in case the mission failed and the astronauts were stranded in space. Take a look at the speech here.

Tune in to the History Channel today. Some really good programming on the way. They are airing the original live broadcast of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. How cool is that? That is followed by a 2 hour show that follows the Apollo 11 crew from training to the end of their mission.

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