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| Cinco de Mayo supermoon 2012 © Maureen Hurley |
I wiped salad dressing on my butcher apron and joined the waitresses and cooks, ranchers, and afternoon bar patrons perched on barstools to watch the moon landing from a TV nestled among moose heads and cobwebbed deer racks.
I will never forget when Armstrong said, "Houston, The Eagle has landed." And how, at Aldrin's request, we all paused to consider the heavens, bow our heads and give thanks. That afternoon, the dingy, dark bar became an altar of light to the gods as unbeknownst to us, Aldrin received communion on the moon.
First Moon Man Neil Armstrong's famous words still reverberate, "One small step for Man, one giant leap for mankind," as he and Buzz Aldrin stepped off the ladder and fell to moon in slo-mo to become the first moonwalkers. A pufft of dust, their bootprints, indelibly etched in time as Aldrin kangarooed like a boy. The flag, stood stiffly at attention like a taffeta gown, Nixon's voice droned like tired bees.
Was it a color TV? I don't think so. But the afterimage of the flag was like a splash of dragon blood against the darkness of space.
FIrst Moon Landing 1969
As the afternoon stretched into infinity, we all felt like heroes. Kennedy's dream had been fulfilled. But the moon herself had also been defaced by Man.
One of my grandmother's favorite sayings was: "You've no more sense than the Man in the Moon," and here I was looking at men on the moon. One small step had irrevocably altered our perception of ourselves in the scope of the universe.
The third astronaut who manned the spaceship, Michael Collins, my cousin's namesake, never set foot on the face of the moon.
I later met one of the NASA engineers who described the absolute suspense when the lunar transmission was delayed. He said that during the landing that very nearly went wrong, everyone held their breath until they turned blue. And the absolute pandemonium that broke out when the data finally came through. The engineer handed me a piece of gray volcanic rock. It was the moon. The moon.
I have held a piece of the broken moon in my hands. One of the Apollo 11 test cones is on the deck of the mothballed USS Hornet, with a display replete with moon rocks, Eagle insignia patches and photos of earthrise. It still takes my breath away.
I will never forget when Armstrong said, "Houston, The Eagle has landed." And how, at Aldrin's request, we all paused to consider the heavens, bow our heads and give thanks. That afternoon, the dingy, dark bar became an altar of light to the gods as unbeknownst to us, Aldrin received communion on the moon.
First Moon Man Neil Armstrong's famous words still reverberate, "One small step for Man, one giant leap for mankind," as he and Buzz Aldrin stepped off the ladder and fell to moon in slo-mo to become the first moonwalkers. A pufft of dust, their bootprints, indelibly etched in time as Aldrin kangarooed like a boy. The flag, stood stiffly at attention like a taffeta gown, Nixon's voice droned like tired bees.
Was it a color TV? I don't think so. But the afterimage of the flag was like a splash of dragon blood against the darkness of space.
FIrst Moon Landing 1969
As the afternoon stretched into infinity, we all felt like heroes. Kennedy's dream had been fulfilled. But the moon herself had also been defaced by Man.
One of my grandmother's favorite sayings was: "You've no more sense than the Man in the Moon," and here I was looking at men on the moon. One small step had irrevocably altered our perception of ourselves in the scope of the universe.
The third astronaut who manned the spaceship, Michael Collins, my cousin's namesake, never set foot on the face of the moon.
I later met one of the NASA engineers who described the absolute suspense when the lunar transmission was delayed. He said that during the landing that very nearly went wrong, everyone held their breath until they turned blue. And the absolute pandemonium that broke out when the data finally came through. The engineer handed me a piece of gray volcanic rock. It was the moon. The moon.
I have held a piece of the broken moon in my hands. One of the Apollo 11 test cones is on the deck of the mothballed USS Hornet, with a display replete with moon rocks, Eagle insignia patches and photos of earthrise. It still takes my breath away.
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| Astronaut William Anders took the Earthrise photo in 1968. Stee sory here. |
