The 40th Anniversary of Humanity’s First Step on the Moon
Today, 20Jul09, marks the 40th anniversary of mankind’s first step on an alien land, our moon. That brief moment in time was monumental; it provided inspiration to generations and helped to unite the world in recognition of the vast potential of humanity’s ingenuity and our scientific progress. It is a remarkable achievement, one that I hope is repeated in order to further extend our scientific knowledge of that world and to .
In contrast to the video, widely popularized by the media, of Buzz Aldrin leaping haphazardly from the landing craft, the first step on the moon was a benign and deliberate movement by Neil Armstrong from the foot of the lunar module. This, in my mind, is much more poetic, as it correctly captures the importance and bravery of the event. The following video shows that first step in it’s veracity.
Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon.
The astronaut stepped onto the Moon’s surface, in the Sea of Tranquility, at 0256 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening the hatch on the Eagle landing craft.Armstrong had earlier reported the lunar module’s safe landing at 20:17 GMT with the words: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
As he put his left foot down first Armstrong declared: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
It has become widely acknowledged that Armstrong erred the above declaration, which should have been “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” Further details on that can be found here.
To mark this historic occasion, Google launched a moon section in Google Earth, which allows visitors to explore the moon in that application.
Land on the Moon in Google Earth. With Moon in Google Earth, you can take tours narrated by Apollo astronauts, view 3D models of landed spacecraft, zoom into 360-degree photos, and watch rare TV footage of the Apollo missions. Download Google Earth 5.0 to start exploring the Moon.http://earth.google.com/moon/
To infinity and beyond…
