Even More Memories

   It might not seem like much, that boot print. In fact, it almost looks like it was taken this past winter after someone stepped in some slushy snow. But it isn't. It is, in fact, one of the pictures taken from the first ever landing on another celestial body. And it happened 45 years ago Sunday.
   It was July 20, 1969, when man walked on the surface of the moon. Neil Armstrong became the first. His words "that's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" were beamed around the world. Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin stepped onto the surface a few minutes later, saying "magnificent desolation".
   And I remember it well. It was storming on that summer Sunday, and I was 13 year old, and glued to the (black and white) T.V with my father. I remember the lunar module descending, and just before it touched down, lightning hit a transformer in the area, knocking out the power. Luckily, it came on just in time for us to find out the astronauts touched down safely.
   Then came the opening of the LM, and Armstrong walking down the ladder and into history:

   They didn't stay on the surface long as they gathered rocks and moon-dust to bring back. They also deployed scientific instruments, some of which are still apparently working and being used. They, they climbed back into their tiny craft, blasted off, linked up with Michael Collins, who remained in orbit, and several days later returned to earth, fulfilling slain president John Kennedy's wish to have a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
   It total, just 12 men would leave their mark on the moon, and just 27 would orbit it before the Apollo program was scrapped.
   The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, died in August 2012 at 82. Aldrin is now 84, and Collins is 83. Their footprints should last on the moon's surface for thousands, perhaps millions, of years.

TTFN