Letter to the Editor
ThePost & Courier
Charleston, SC
Published: June 29, 2019
Going to the moon
On June 23, I watched the CNN special “Apollo 11” which will be re-broadcast at 9 p.m. June 29 and at midnight June 30.
From the beginning to the end, I was captivated by the telling of the story, using film seen fifty years ago and new, previously unseen, film. I knew that the three men, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins would return to earth safely, but the presentation was so effective, the apprehension felt was real when Armstrong and Aldrin left the lunar module and climbed down the ladder to walk on the moon.
After the capsule re-entry, it made me proud to see the aircraft carrier Hornet standing around the drop site in the Pacific, and helicopters circling overhead.
Nothing was spared in the effort to pluck these three brave men out of the water and onto the Hornet to the clapping and thunderous cheers of the crew and other officials.
It was a fitting end to the presentation to see President John F. Kennedy at the podium at the University of Texas in September 1962 proclaim to the world, " We choose to go to the Moon...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.”
We have not seen such gravitas in the White House since.
(Send comments to arch@archibald99.com)
