Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Neil Armstrong's family wants you to look at the moon. . . and give a wink:

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012 ... -wink?lite

BTW, we and many of our neighbors had cookouts and watch parties for the Apollo 11 launch and lunar landing. A lot of people were partying that week. Apollo 11 launched on Wednesday July 16 and the moon landing was Sunday July 20. A group of men and women stayed in a beach house on Martha's Vineyard that weekend. Among them were Senator Edward Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne. Some time during the late night hours of Friday July 18 and the early morning hours of Saturday July 19...

Not making a political statement but most people today do not know these events overlapped. Nobody did stories about the hundreds of villagers in Cambodia killed in illegal bombings that weekend until years later.

I was eight years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and remember vividly the excitement I and everyone around me felt at the time. My dad took a photo of the TV screen the moment Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the lunar module onto the moon's surface. The photo does not clearly show what is on the TV screen but we kept it because it is a souvenier of an unforgettable moment for almost every American alive at that time.

When I think of Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin I use rose colored glasses since they are childhood heroes. But I really believe their sense of duty as military officers kept them from making any effort to cash in or otherwise draw attentiion to themselves even after they retired from the military. They know that if the earlier Apollo missions had gone differently the first lunar landing could have Apollo 10 (Tom Stafford's name would be known by everyone) or Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad would be "The First..."). I like to think Armstrong not only had an aversion to having his privacy invaded but thought it "unseemly" to take advantage of his unique position in world history. In my mind, he knew how fortunate it was for him that Apollo 11 was The One.

Would I have had the character to be low key throughout my life if I was The First Man To Walk On The Moon? I'm not sure. I am a decent human being but I don't know if I could have resisted the temptation to cash in. I might have cashed in before the flight. My first words after stepping off the ladder might not have concerned small steps or giant leaps but may have been "Pepsi Cola" or "Chevrolet."

Sonic Youth wrote:

Reza wrote:

anonymous1980 wrote:Story.

I wonder when mankind will take its next big leap.

Why haven't the Americans returned to the moon? It's been 43 years.

No oil.

But seriously, he was a childhood hero of mine and there weren't too many of those. And why not? All the other pioneering explorers were dead. Of course I wasn't born yet when the moon launch happened, but we were taught all about it in school and the first astronaut's were giants and true icons. Best of all, Neil knew how to be a celebrity: he lived the rest of his life privately and with his mouth closed. No running for president, no Dancing With the Stars. Maybe he gave lectures at neighborhood schools, but otherwise he lived the rest of his life quietly and privately, which added to his legendary status as it did with J.D. Salinger and Terence Malick. R.I.P.

And I won't hold it against him that the launch was a big hoax anyway.

Very odd that he should live his life away from the limelight considering his ''achievement''. Does raise the obligatory conspiracy theory, doesn't it?

Reza wrote:

anonymous1980 wrote:Story.

I wonder when mankind will take its next big leap.

Why haven't the Americans returned to the moon? It's been 43 years.

No oil.

But seriously, he was a childhood hero of mine and there weren't too many of those. And why not? All the other pioneering explorers were dead. Of course I wasn't born yet when the moon launch happened, but we were taught all about it in school and the first astronaut's were giants and true icons. Best of all, Neil knew how to be a celebrity: he lived the rest of his life privately and with his mouth closed. No running for president, no Dancing With the Stars. Maybe he gave lectures at neighborhood schools, but otherwise he lived the rest of his life quietly and privately, which added to his legendary status as it did with J.D. Salinger and Terence Malick. R.I.P.

And I won't hold it against him that the launch was a big hoax anyway.

anonymous1980 wrote:Story.

I wonder when mankind will take its next big leap.

Why haven't the Americans returned to the moon? It's been 43 years.

For a minute I was thinking "Lance" Armstrong who has been so much in the news lately.

Story.

I wonder when mankind will take its next big leap.