Oddity of the Week: One Small Step
Created | Updated Sep 9, 2012
This week's Oddity commemorates heroes, and a milestone.
One Small Step
Practically everybody who was on the planet at the time remembers the event: we were glued to our television sets. Neil Armstrong stepped out of the LEM, followed by his fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin. As Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface, he spoke these words on behalf of the 400,000 people who had worked to put him there:
'One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.'
At that moment, we knew that our view of the world had changed forever. There was no going back.
This NASA photo, taken from Apollo 11 by Michael Collins, shows the LEM as it was returning from the surface of the moon. We'd done it – there and back. We'd visited another world. Chalk one up for the dreamers.
Armstrong was a modest sort of hero. He didn't try to take all the credit. And he was a pioneer. He was the point man, and he took some of the pressure off his successors. Armstrong agonised over his first words on the moon. Pete Conrad of Apollo 12, in contrast, was able to remark:
'Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me.'
This Researcher laughed with delight.
Armstrong was game to the end. He had volunteered to go on a mission to Mars, even though he was in his 80s. That's dedication. That's a sense of adventure. He will be missed.
And his words will never be forgotten – just as we will never lose sight of the meaning of that view of home from over their shoulders.
