LJDRVR
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
- 1,134
Today being July 20th, I thought I'd remind everybody that on a Sunday evening 35 years ago, at 02:56 GMT, an American set foot on the surface of another planet.
In a world of Bush vs. Kerry, Brittney Spears, "reality TV", and fat, lazy, un-motivated, SUV-driving, entitled morons, it's nice to pause and reflect on the amazing achievements of approximately 490,000 of our fellow citizens. From engineers, to technicians, to secretaries, to little old ladies in Wilmington whose sewing abilities made possible the mobility the astronauts enjoyed during their EVA.
This is truly an amazing country, and the Apollo Program is quite simply, one of the greatest, if not the single most profound accomplishment or nation has ever had. I was 2 years old, and got to stay up late.
Here's a bit of nerdy trivia: Everyone widely believes the first words from the surface of the moon were "Houston, Tranquillity base here. The Eagle has landed." (Texans in particular are fond of the misguided notion that the first word spoken was Houston.
) Here's the truth. As the LM's MODE INTERCOMM/PTT was in VOX, (hot mic) the first word uttered from the lunar surface was actually: "Shutdown", followed by "Descent engine command override-OFF, engine arm-OFF, 413 is in." Only then did Armstrong direct his attention to addressing anybody.
In a world of Bush vs. Kerry, Brittney Spears, "reality TV", and fat, lazy, un-motivated, SUV-driving, entitled morons, it's nice to pause and reflect on the amazing achievements of approximately 490,000 of our fellow citizens. From engineers, to technicians, to secretaries, to little old ladies in Wilmington whose sewing abilities made possible the mobility the astronauts enjoyed during their EVA.
This is truly an amazing country, and the Apollo Program is quite simply, one of the greatest, if not the single most profound accomplishment or nation has ever had. I was 2 years old, and got to stay up late.
Here's a bit of nerdy trivia: Everyone widely believes the first words from the surface of the moon were "Houston, Tranquillity base here. The Eagle has landed." (Texans in particular are fond of the misguided notion that the first word spoken was Houston.
) Here's the truth. As the LM's MODE INTERCOMM/PTT was in VOX, (hot mic) the first word uttered from the lunar surface was actually: "Shutdown", followed by "Descent engine command override-OFF, engine arm-OFF, 413 is in." Only then did Armstrong direct his attention to addressing anybody.
) 
