Forty-One Years Ago Tonight, Sleeping on My Parents Floor To Watch The Moon Landing

Forty-one years ago today, it seemed as if the entire world was united behind one event. A celebration of  a miracle, two men walked on the moon. For those of us who grew up before twitter, facebook, and I-pads, the US space program was simply the coolest thing in the world--ever! I joined all of my friends in wanting to be Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin (no one wanted to be Michael Collins because he stayed in space).

I didn't collect baseball cards when I was growing up, it was a pile of brochures from NASA that was littering my bedroom (I still have them), I read them over and over while sipping a glass of TANG.

I knew the name of every Astronaut every Spacecraft from the first Mercury capsule, through Gemini and Apollo. Their pictures were tacked up across my bedroom wall much to the chagrin of my roommate, my 20 year-old-brother.

It was a different time, the entire nation was behind that one goal, landing a man on the moon and getting him home safely. While people fought over politics and a War that our government refused to try and win (sound familiar?), everyone was, to some extent, a space junkie.

Other than the basement, the only place in my house with a TV set was my parents room. I slept on my parent's floor so I cold be woken to see man's first moonwalk. As I watched Neil Armstrong walk down that ladder, I couldn't help to think how cool America was, to make this happen. And as I looked at the earth from the moon I thought what a beautiful world God created. The miracle of walking on the moon not simply a victory for science, it was a victory for the ingenuity that could only come from a capitalist economy, and most of all it was a victory for faith. As the LEM descended toward the moon, even the most hardened atheist was praying for a safe landing.

Now 41 years later, I miss that America, the unity of purpose, etc. That night when I slept in my parent's bedroom I knew I was watching the coolest thing America had ever done. I witnessed an incredible universe that God created. Nothing could top it then and to be honest, nothing can top it now