“Fly me to the moon and let me live among your stars”

Do you remember where you were when Neil Armstrong took that giant step for mankind?  I was in the living room at my aunt and uncle’s house in Jamaica, Queens, NY.  We were gathered around the one black and white console television. Though the room was filled with three adults and seven children not a single sound was heard except the scratchy noise coming from the tv.  “One small step for man; one giant step for mankind.”

I was hooked.  I watched every space launch and landing.  How could I not?  We were going to the moon!  My favorite tv show which I watched faithfully was My Favorite Martian.  My mother would tell me the tales of Orson Wells’s radio show, The War of the Worlds.  To me there were aliens, never any doubt.  And I witnessed a spacewalk!

My father worked for NASA.  Since my father was not an astronaut, I thought it was a very boring area of the space program.  He worked on the heating and cooling design of several Apollo rockets.  Until…he took me to see the floor where the rocket was assembled after one of the Apollo rockets was launched.  I do not know for a fact that it was the warehouse that contained the majestic rocket.  In my nine year old mind it was.  I can still remember the huge area of the warehouse, the bright lights, the noise and the excitement of seeing something I would never be able to explain to my friends. 

Security was different in the 60’s. I could go to the secured areas of NASA with my father.  Heroes were different too. There were still Hollywood & sports stars in the 60’s that  people would try to emulate.  Neil Armstrong was a different hero to elementary students in the 60’s.  By being the first to space walk, Neil Armstrong, a man doing his duty for his country, became a hero.  It turns out Neil Armstrong was a very quiet, private, intelligent and honorable man.  We could not have asked for a better role model.

Neil Armstrong left us this month to spacewalk among the heavens.  I was privileged to have witnessed this history maker.  May he dwell among the stars; he is one of the brightest.

The envelopes are from my personal collection from my father; the blue card is an actual timesheet with a repair of one of the Apollo space craft shshshshsh don't tell anyone I am pretty sure I am not suppose to have it.