Just saw this bit of very sad news over at DailyKOS.
Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the surface of the moon, has died at age 82.
The family described him as a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend, and also as “a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job.”
That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.When Armstrong set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, he fulfilled the goal that had been set by President John F. Kennedy just eight years earlier. [...]
Armstrong’s family said, “While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.
“For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request: Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”
I recall a couple of interviews I saw with him when I was very young. I seem to recall that he was simply acting as outreach for some NASA science project at the time. Something he had very little to do with, but that someone at NASA saw a spokesman opportunity for him to do. Roll out the old hero of yesteryear sort of thing and let him wow the public. He seemed genuinely amazed that people thought so highly of his step and one liner while they couldn’t name the others who had been to the moon and back. I wonder if enough YouTube surfing could find that, or if it is something I am simply mis-remembering.
“…just doing his job.” Incredible.
#1 by Richard Warnick on August 25, 2012 - 2:44 pm
According to Miles O’Brien on CNN today, Neil Armstrong (despite being an accomplished test pilot) didn’t have a big ego, and was acutely aware that putting him on the Moon was a team effort that employed thousands.
#2 by cav on August 25, 2012 - 5:27 pm
It’s staggering to think that Armstrong was sent to the moon with computers less powerful that what is contained in our smartphones today.
RIP Neil.
#3 by Shane on August 25, 2012 - 5:38 pm
Cav, todays version of “when the ships where wooden and the men made of iron.”
Armstrong went to the moon when the men and women were brilliant and the phones and computers dumb…
#4 by cav on August 25, 2012 - 7:38 pm
66 years prior to the Moon Landing, a couple of bicycle mechanics, the Wright Brothers, with scratch pads, launched that whole flight thing.
Where to next?
#5 by Larry Bergan on August 25, 2012 - 11:07 pm
His quote when he stepped on the moon was perfect for Americas proudest moment. I’m going to have to pull out my “From The Earth To The Moon” DVD.
Wish I had a Phylis Diller DVD.
#6 by Richard Warnick on August 27, 2012 - 8:54 am
IMHO we have to move past the hero-astronaut phase of space exploration. If there is anything worth discovering on the Moon and planets, robots can do it just as well, and a lot cheaper.
#7 by brewski on August 27, 2012 - 9:57 am
Larry,
What did you think of this space moment?
#8 by cav on August 27, 2012 - 12:19 pm
And God clove the nothingness (which I can only assume included Him) into light and dark, up and down, and, of course God and Not God. (how convenient).
Had he not done so, or when the day comes that division is healed over, I guess everything will just return to Nothing.
Makes perfect sense to me.
#9 by Larry Bergan on August 27, 2012 - 7:59 pm
I don’t know if that recitation from the bible was heartfelt or not and I don’t know which astronauts recited it, but if it was something they felt good about; what the hey?
It’s well known that the astronauts had to portray a public persona of chastity and soberness whether they were or not. A nude dip in The Sea of Galilee would have ended their dreams.
What is that green blob on the video? Cheese?
#10 by brewski on August 27, 2012 - 8:45 pm
Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders all took turns reading the verses.
#11 by Larry Bergan on August 27, 2012 - 9:08 pm
Well, good for them. I’ll bet you a dime for a dollar they hadn’t heard the story of Galileo being exiled for having church leaders look through his telescope and getting him lost.
Would have been sorta hard to reach the moon without knowledge of science.
Think they may have been coerced when they read the bible passages?
#12 by cav on August 27, 2012 - 9:24 pm
Dick ‘I am not a crook’ Nixon made ‘em do it.
“If you ever want to set foot on your home planet again, you’ll recite this…” I believe the Moon landing occurred while He, Kissenger and Westmoreland were bombing the shit out of Southeast Asia.
It’s true, you can check it.
#13 by brewski on August 27, 2012 - 9:41 pm
Source please.
#14 by cav on August 27, 2012 - 9:46 pm
I jest. It was actually the Chappaquiddick incident – Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign aide to his brother, dies in the early morning hours of July 19 in the submerged car.
The bombing came a little later.
#15 by brewski on August 27, 2012 - 10:10 pm
It would have been pretty hard for Nixon to bomb anything in Christmas of 1968 since he was not President at the time nor Commander in Chief. It would have been the war criminal Democrat LBJ who was bombing the shit out of Southeast Asia at the time.
#16 by Larry Bergan on August 27, 2012 - 10:22 pm
brewski, brewski/noname-for-a-reason:
You are apparently the only person on earth who can’t remember where he was when the first man walked on the moon.
No Democrat with any knowledge would deny that Johnson was drummed out of office – by Democrats – for the Viet Nam war, but the moon landing was in 1969.
Nixon won office in 1968. What’s the deal, dude?
#17 by Larry Bergan on August 27, 2012 - 10:24 pm
Chappaquiddick eclipses everything!
#18 by Larry Bergan on August 27, 2012 - 10:26 pm
One giant leap for brewski! One VERY SMALL step backwards for man.
#19 by cav on August 27, 2012 - 10:37 pm
I believe your calendar must have gotten stuck – our discussion centers around 1969. But your point about the freshness of the Nixon administration is respected. Kissinger had just begun ‘peace talks’ with the Viets in Paris – only to rather quickly become convinced our best negotiating chip was greater and greater violence.
#20 by brewski on August 28, 2012 - 5:25 am
The video was not made on the surface of the moon in 1969. It was made from an orbiter in 1968. So the reading of Genesis was in 1968 while LBJ was bombing Jane Fonda.
#21 by cav on August 28, 2012 - 8:07 am
Slides brewski a cold beverage.
#22 by brewski on August 28, 2012 - 9:36 am
Hopes it is a Devastator.
#23 by cav on August 28, 2012 - 11:10 am
Not familiar with the brand, but…Devastator it is.
#24 by brewski on August 28, 2012 - 11:40 am
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XAI9dBOev_w/TniCqf4sQHI/AAAAAAAAC18/gjJafHHsnDI/s1600/Wasatch%2BThe%2BDevastator%2BDouble%2BBock%2BLager.JPG
#25 by Larry Bergan on August 28, 2012 - 3:37 pm
That’s one hilarious beer label!
#26 by brewski on August 28, 2012 - 7:00 pm
Why is it hilarious?
#27 by Larry Bergan on August 28, 2012 - 7:36 pm
It pokes fun at power. Why did you post it?
#28 by brewski on August 28, 2012 - 7:36 pm
Cav said he would buy me one.
#29 by cav on August 28, 2012 - 8:21 pm
A ‘virtual’ Devastator, mind you – don’t want you messing up at Mutual, or getting bombed with Jane Fonda.
;^)
#30 by Larry Bergan on August 28, 2012 - 11:04 pm
Mutual.
Well now there’s a term I haven’t heard since I was sixteen. As I understood it at the time, it was a place where you could meet people of the opposite sex without ANY chance of sex outside of marriage.
Since brewski lives here, maybe he can illuminate me.
#31 by cav on August 29, 2012 - 2:26 pm
Green Stamps and Soupy Sales.
I’m trying to date myself since nobody else will.
Sloow around here. What is it – everybody still trying to digest Madam Rmoney’s magnificent promotion of family values last nite? Or did you simply hurt yourselves jamming out the exits?
#32 by brewski on August 29, 2012 - 3:43 pm
I have never heard of a mutual and I do remember Green Stamps and Soupy Sales.
#33 by Larry Bergan on August 29, 2012 - 6:27 pm
You have to be a Mormon, brewski.
Mutual wasn’t an, inherently, bad thing, but Buddy Holly concerts were probably a lot more exciting.
What about S & H stamps!!!?
#34 by Larry Bergan on August 29, 2012 - 6:46 pm
Fortunately for The LDS, gays didn’t exist in the days of Green Stamps.
#35 by cav on August 29, 2012 - 7:39 pm
I’m sorry for the diversion, so back to the topic of the Moon – day after tomorrow will be the ‘blue’ Moon. Second full moon in August.
And to think the world ended not so long ago.
#36 by brewski on August 29, 2012 - 7:47 pm
I’m not mormon, never was mormon and can’t imagine why anyone would ever choose to be mormon. I know a few converts and I feel like asking “really”? I live in Utah now (yes Larry) but didn’t move here until I was 34 for a job. Never planned to move here or live here. Just an accident of life.
#37 by Larry Bergan on August 29, 2012 - 9:11 pm
brewski;
I don’t know about your situation, but you may have noticed wages in Utah/China are very low. Maybe that’s why you had to move here.
No accident.
#38 by Triple Prime on August 31, 2012 - 1:51 pm
family man? Lol… Family men don’t stalk and steal money from other families. You know you are stealing money from a cancer patient and causing undue stress which affects our two year old twin girls don’t you, you sack of cow dung. I’ve got the FBI on your trail. Hope youre getting some good rest because it won’t be easy to sleep with bubbas big black cock shoved down your throat