BOB HOPE SALUTES NASA

No particular reason why I'm posting this today. I saw it some time back and always thought you'd like to look back at one of the greatest times in America. Well I ran across it this morning, watched it again and soon posted.

Bob Hope, NASA, and Neil Armstrong... can't go wrong there. Enjoy.

JULY 20, 1969: AMERICANS WALK ON THE MOON

Doesn't quite seem possible, but it's been 42 years since man first walked on the moon. A technological feat so awesome that I doubt it will ever be surpassed. It's one of those few "Where were you?" moments that happens in life.

Each year I try to honor the day. It's usually a proud and happy day but this year it feels different: It's a sad day since it marks the highest point in American manned space flight, and tomorrow the American manned space flight program comes to an end when Atlantis rolls to a stop on a Florida runway. Technically, NASA will still have a manned program, just no vehicle to carry American astronauts into space. If that's our goal, we'll be paying the Russians for a seat on one of their rockets. Like I said, it's a sad day.

The journey to have Americans walk on the moon didn't begin on July 20th, 1969, when Armstrong opened the Eagle's hatch; it began with John Kennedy setting a goal for America back in the early 1960s. JFK didn't live to see the day nor did his brother Robert. Brother Ted was otherwise preoccupied, securing a good legal defense team.

On the morning of July 16th, 1969, Apollo 11 sat atop the towering Atlas V rocket on launch pad 39-A. The Florida weather was in a cooperative mood. The goal of the mission was simply stated: send a man to the moon and return him safely. Buzz Aldrin recalls the moments just before being strapped in for launch:

"While Mike and Neil were going through the complicated business of being strapped in and connected to the spacecraft's life-support system, I waited near the elevator on the floor below. I waited alone for fifteen minutes in a sort of serene limbo. As far as I could see there were people and cars lining the beaches and highways. The surf was just beginning to rise out of an azure-blue ocean. I could see the massiveness of the Saturn V rocket below and the magnificent precision of Apollo above. I savored the wait and marked the minutes in my mind as something I would always want to remember."

Yes, we will always want to remember. God Bless America.

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JULY 20, 1969--AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM ON DISPLAY

There was a time in America when NASA had a clear and stated goal of achievement--a purpose beyond the imaginations of anyone on earth. 41-years-ago today, America reached that goal when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Among the great achievements of mankind, this one stands alone.

The space program was born about the same time I was, so I had the privilege of watching as the program advanced from Mercury to Gemini to Apollo. Each stage of progress brought new and exciting images to our tv sets, and we couldn't wait for the next phase as it would bring us that much closer to the stated goal--landing on the moon. To us--the kids--this was pure science fiction.

On July 20, 1969, many of us in the neighborhood were gathered around a tv set in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Ellery Knake of Urbana, Illinois, when we witnessed the greatness of our nation. The world watched with us as Walter Cronkite did the play-by-play. I was 13-years-old. I had no idea at the time, but in three short years I would find myself standing on the banks of the Indian River in Titusville, Florida, as Apollo 17--the final moon mission--left the launch pad with Gene Cernan in command.

Today, I'm not so sure NASA has a purpose, let alone a goal--"...landing a man on Mecca and returning him safely" sounds more like a job for the State Department, but that's just me. However, there was a time, and it was 41-years-ago today...