I was 18 years old when Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969, at 9:32 AM, carrying the first humans to land on the moon. Three days later, the crew, Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, entered lunar orbit. The anticipation was palpable to me and others as we gathered in a friend’s apartment on the late evening of 20 July to watch Armstrong and Aldrin step onto the Moon.
We were all wondering what Armstrong would say when he stepped onto the surface. I recall some jokes about where to get a hamburger. But what he eventually said was eloquent. It wasn’t nationalistic, but rather appealed to a much broader context. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Nonetheless, all of us welled up with pride as we applauded and cheered this remarkable event.
It’s fascinating to me to think about what will occur in the future that is hard for those of us here today to comprehend. Last night, America, for the second time in 57 years, sent astronauts into space to travel to the moon, to orbit it, and eventually return home, a test of modern technology that will lead to landing men on the moon again, possibly within the next two years.
Imagine for a moment if an advisor to King George III had predicted that the Colonies he would lose to a revolution would result in a nation that would send men to the moon and return them safely to our planet. “Preposterous” would have been the likely response. But that is what happened.
America would prosper throughout history and, ironically, do so while Britain continued to rule the seas. Then, Pax Britannica would benefit the mutual interests of the old empire and the United States as they expanded their mutual economic interests. There would be tension—and a second war—between the two, but in the long run, the United States and Britain have had a symbiotic relationship, even amid some disagreements.
After WWI, America would continue to prosper and reach dominance after WWII, when the rest of the world was in shambles. America’s emergence as a preeminent world power would continue as the Boomer Generation arrived. Much would define us as young people growing up in the most powerful country in the world. Rock and Roll, fast food, souped-up cars, and sports heroes were prominent. There were also bad things. Drugs, sexual hedonism, and the Vietnam War. All of that created doubt about the future of our nation, one that was in open rebellion against authority and deeply divided over war and traditional values.
Amid all of that, Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin galvanized us in a moment of unity. They exhibited extraordinary courage, and we watched them. We were riveted by what they did for the US and the world. The unthinkable was no longer impossible. America had put men on the moon. We were first. Yet all around the world, people watched in utter amazement as two American visitors to the moon placed the American flag where it remains to this day.
These are the memories that occurred to me last night as we watched America launch Artemis 2, atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket ever built. Liftoff took place at 6:35 PM, sending four astronauts into Earth orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft, where they are now preparing for the next phase of their journey. I wonder what young people watching this second epoch of lunar exploration were thinking when the SLS thundered into space yesterday. Did they, like we decades ago, take a break from the self-indulgence and conflict of our age? Were they able to look past the great divisions that confront us today, politically, socially, religiously, and racially? Did they see some hope in excelling as no other nation has in history? Were they proud to be Americans? I have my doubts, and that saddens me.
Maybe it will take a repetition of the 1969 arrival on the surface of the moon for them to share the same sense of awe and national pride—a good thing—that I sensed with my friends as we watched Armstrong make world history before our very eyes. A VMI classmate reminded me that then we sent men to the moon using paper, pencils, and slide rules. Now, supercomputers, some quite small, do that work as fearless, brave astronauts hurtle towards our closest neighbor in the universe. They share the same drive as their forbearers. They carry within them the courage of their grandfathers.
I’m hopeful that the youth of this nation will once again take pride in their nation. We could use some transcendent unity now in the form of courage, vision, and exaltation.
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