Forty years ago today, the Eagle landed on the Moon, marking one of the most exciting events in the exploration of space. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made the landing, while Michael Collins manned the command module from above.
I remember that day well. I was filled with the excitement of the possibilities of what would come next. First exploration of the Moon, then there would be colonies, and Man would push on into space, fully exploring and settling the rest of our solar system.
Since that time, everything we have done in the manned program has been anti-climatic. This is a sad fact, as space holds so many possibilities on how we can expand our frontier, and our knowledge.
To my generation, the astronauts of the Apollo program have always been some of our greatest heroes, from the Mercury program on through to the space shuttle of today. They are men and women of courage, putting their lives on the line to see what is out there.
But forty years after the Eagle, it is well past time we headed back to the Moon. Perhaps it won’t be so many years before I can sit down and watch a new Eagle landing on the Moon with my daughter, and share the hopes and dreams of the future with her.
