Today in 1969, we came in peace, for all mankind to a sea of tranquility…

… and after one small step, two men would stare out across what one of them called “magnificent desolation”. Orbiting overhead another man would keep vigil, as on earth half of a billion people were riveted to television screens receiving broadcasts of events as they unfolded on what had been until that moment a dreamscape. Kings, Tyrants, and Leaders relegated to awestruck spectators. We were there all of us explorers, and to us that grand frontier that has sat elusive in our night sky, forever a source of inspiration and hope, was finally so very close to us. We dared to dream, and we dared to make that dream real.

I hope that I will some day look on as mankind takes it’s first steps onto a planet that is not our own. That would be the greatest.

Some would say it was Engineers, and Scientists that got us to the moon. That’s no more true than saying it was America or John F Kennedy who got us there. So many people have given of themselves down through the centuries, some giving everything. Apollo was everyone’s. This anniversary belongs to all of us. So, enjoy the wonder, the excitement, and the pride all over again. Enjoy it while it lasts, because some day soon we’ll be sitting glued to televisions and lcds as men and women of earth step out onto the vastness of Mars.

PS:

Check it out: here. Not sure who put all the effort into making this, but lord knows it’s amazing. And Hacking the AGC would be a very appropriate way to spend this anniversary at a hackerspace.