Thirty-five years ago, I was sixteen and vacationing with my parents. We had driven through Canada to New York State, to see Niagara Falls. I remember feeling really "dumb" at being with my parents at what was obviously a honeymoon destination. From there, we circled around Lake Erie to Sandusky, Ohio, where we visited Cedar Point, riding the rides, eating hot dogs and having fun. That evening we sat on the edge of a motel bed, our eyes glued to the television as Walter Cronkite announced that American astronauts had walked on the moon.
From the N.Y. Times article:
Two Americans, astronauts of Apollo 11, steered their fragile four-legged lunar module safely and smoothly to the historic landing yesterday at 4:17:40 P.M., Eastern daylight time.Even today, I am awed.
Neil A. Armstrong, the 38-year-old civilian commander, radioed to earth and the mission control room here:
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
The first men to reach the moon--Mr. Armstrong and his co-pilot, Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. of the Air Force--brought their ship to rest on a level, rock-strewn plain near the southwestern shore of the arid Sea of Tranquility.
About six and a half hours later, Mr. Armstrong opened the landing craft's hatch, stepped slowly down the ladder and declared as he planted the first human footprint on the lunar crust:
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
His first step on the moon came at 10:56:20 P.M., as a television camera outside the craft transmitted his every move to an awed and excited audience of hundreds of millions of people on earth."
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