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July 20, 1969

David Foster
@DavidFoster
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Buzz Aldrin descending the ladder of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle. From nasa.gov

It's the 57th anniversary of the moon landing. The date reminds me of a promotional film made by North American Aviation in the early days of the space program, positioning space exploration in the context of American history, exploration, and development. The music, a mix of traditional and new, was arranged and composed by John Stewart of the Kingston Trio.

With Their Eyes on the Stars

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Discussion (8)

  • GPentelie@GPentelie

    I remember it well. Glued to the TV, in our apartment in Bucharest, Romania.

    It still amazes me that 54 years have elapsed since the last crewed landing there.

    Looking forward to Artemis IV, planned for early '28.

  • David Foster@DavidFoster
    ReplyingtoGPentelie

    GPentelie (View Comment):

    It still amazes me that 54 years have elapsed since the last crewed landing there.

    In 1957, TIME Magazine ran a cover story on General Bernard Schriever, who ran the ballistic missile program for the USAF, referring the the general and his crew as "tomorrow's men." In my 2011 review of Schriever's biography, I said:

    In retrospect, this was true only if one defined “tomorrow” as the interval between the appearance of the article and, say, July 1969. Actually it could be argued that Schriever was a man of the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, the era of the Panama Canal and the Hoover Dam and the Empire State Building. In our current era, the execution of such projects has become difficult almost to the point of impossibility.

    In my 2026 update of the review, I was feeling a lot more optimistic about the possibilities for doing big things fast in America, and noted that TIME has recently published a cover story on another rocket pioneer: Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX.

    A Fiery Peace in a Cod Wara

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