One Small Step

by Bryan

10 comments

1 Badtux { 07.16.07 at 12:28 am }

Sadly, it’s a step that our nation could no longer manage even if we desired to. We simply don’t have the gumption to do stuff that big and risky anymore, even if our economy was still capable of it.

– Badtux the Economy Penguin

2 Jack K. { 07.16.07 at 10:18 am }

…ah, but what a time it was while we had it. We were already starting to slide down the backslope in Vietnam, Nixon was still unpacking in the White House, the nation was still dealing on a host of fronts with the aftermath of 1968 (all in all, one of the darkest years in US history), and there was a generally bleak, glum feeling across the land. The whole Apollo program – and Apollo 11 – was a little bright spot that could make us feel good for awhile. Even 38 years on, I still remember vividly where I was 5 days later as Armstrong crawled down the LEM’s ladder (Bremerton, WA/Grandma’s living room couch)…

3 jams o donnell { 07.16.07 at 3:27 pm }

I was six when Neil fluffed his lines. He was my childhood hero so you can imagine that I was delighted to meet him in 1989

4 Bryan { 07.16.07 at 5:27 pm }

Hell, BT, we can’t even manage the “small steps” any more, much less the “giant leap.”

I saw it while airborne on a jury-rigged system over the Arctic, Jack. It was an amazing thing and necessary after all of the tragedies in 1968 and ’69.

Recent analysis has shown that he didn’t fluff it, he did say a “small step for a man” but the “a” got swallowed in transmission, Jams. It’s there and you can see it on an oscilloscope, but it’s not obvious on the tape. He will always be the first.

5 Cookie Jill { 07.17.07 at 4:33 am }

Ah….I remember wanting to be an astronaut when I was little. We would “winter” in Florida and I remember seeing rockets of somesort taking off from Cape Canaveral. I remember visiting the Lunar Module they had on display at the Cape. I drank the Tang. I ate those god awful “food sticks”

Alas…I ultimately realized I was afraid of heights.

6 Bryan { 07.17.07 at 2:57 pm }

Actually, Jill, inside the aircraft there is no feeling of heights. Now, claustrophobia is a real problem.

7 Cookie Jill { 07.17.07 at 7:21 pm }

Yeah…claustrophobia is another one of my “virtues”

Took scuba diving out of the picture, too.

8 Bryan { 07.17.07 at 8:18 pm }

We ran into that in the police academy. One of the guys put on a gas mask and totally lost it before we entered the smoke and tear gas filled building.

My Mother has a related problem, but it’s because of asthma – she experiences panic about breathing when anything covers her face.

9 Cookie Jill { 07.18.07 at 1:36 am }

My asthma came by way of living in Sacramento for awhile. One of the “breathing problem” Capitals of the country.

My “virtues” came before the asthma. Hate to try them out now.

10 Bryan { 07.18.07 at 11:53 am }

That’s why they tend to use the “nose thingee” for oxygen – most of the people who need oxygen can’t handle a mask.