Which event would you consider as the highlight of 20th century? Which event do you think represents humanity at its best? Which event would you have liked to witness in real life?
These are all subjective questions, and there would be a variety of answers to each one.
For me, it would be that moment on 20th July 1969 when Neil Armstrong, US astronaut and commander of Apollo-11 mission, stepped off the lunar module Eagle and planted the first footprint on the Moon.
That moment marked a successful culmination of decade-long hard work, blood,sweat, tears, and life sacrifice by astronauts, the flight control, and the 4 lakh men and women who worked day and night,often at the cost of their personal lives and relationships, to achieve the goal set by their charismatic president John F Kennedy. Today is the 49th anniversary of this historic event.
My fascination with NASA in general and Mercury-Gemini-Apollo missions in particular began around the age of 15 years, when my father handed me a rare edition of Imprint magazine titled "Voyage to the Moon: The Story of Apollo-11". Not only did I finish it within a month, I also translated it into Marathi, but only up to the point where I couldn't think of the perfect words to capture the essence of first words by Armstrong as he stepped on the Moon: "That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind." And, even today 20 year later, I still haven't.
During this Golden Jubilee year (2018-2019) of Apollo-11 mission, I plan to specifically focus on searching, collecting and reading all the available literature on this subject, be it astronaut biographies, flight journals, NASA technical reference manuals, and so on. Wherever possible and per my ability, I will endeavour to review them.
Neither Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the Moon, nor Eugene Cernan, the last man to leave it, are with us today. Mankind must continue the space exploration that they pioneered; and I really hope to see humans landing on Mars during our lifetime.
Take a moment to step out of the house and look up at the Moon tonight. It looks so far, and yet reaching it represents just venturing just a bit beyond our doorstep. The vast space still beckons us.
These are all subjective questions, and there would be a variety of answers to each one.
For me, it would be that moment on 20th July 1969 when Neil Armstrong, US astronaut and commander of Apollo-11 mission, stepped off the lunar module Eagle and planted the first footprint on the Moon.
That moment marked a successful culmination of decade-long hard work, blood,sweat, tears, and life sacrifice by astronauts, the flight control, and the 4 lakh men and women who worked day and night,often at the cost of their personal lives and relationships, to achieve the goal set by their charismatic president John F Kennedy. Today is the 49th anniversary of this historic event.
My fascination with NASA in general and Mercury-Gemini-Apollo missions in particular began around the age of 15 years, when my father handed me a rare edition of Imprint magazine titled "Voyage to the Moon: The Story of Apollo-11". Not only did I finish it within a month, I also translated it into Marathi, but only up to the point where I couldn't think of the perfect words to capture the essence of first words by Armstrong as he stepped on the Moon: "That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind." And, even today 20 year later, I still haven't.
During this Golden Jubilee year (2018-2019) of Apollo-11 mission, I plan to specifically focus on searching, collecting and reading all the available literature on this subject, be it astronaut biographies, flight journals, NASA technical reference manuals, and so on. Wherever possible and per my ability, I will endeavour to review them.
Neither Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the Moon, nor Eugene Cernan, the last man to leave it, are with us today. Mankind must continue the space exploration that they pioneered; and I really hope to see humans landing on Mars during our lifetime.
Take a moment to step out of the house and look up at the Moon tonight. It looks so far, and yet reaching it represents just venturing just a bit beyond our doorstep. The vast space still beckons us.
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