Remember, and give the Moon a wink.

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment, and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the Moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

- Armstrong's family

And if you're using a binocular or telescope, you can find where the first human beings first walked on the Moon, right here:


Click the image to see the Universe Today article about Apollo 11.

Landing people on the Moon and safely returning them - that was Kennedy's dream and goal just a few years before we did it. For a moment in time, after Armstrong spoke those famous (and oft-misquoted, due to nerves or equipment malfunction), billions around the world were joined in common elation that, yes, humankind was more than a beast, that we could dream and reach and do great things that did not involve killing or taking from others, truly great things. We could leap from our birth-world into the great unknown - and return safely! We could become an interplanetary species. This was the culmination of the promise of the Space Age, and Armstrong (and Aldrin and Collins) stood in as bearers of our own hopes and dreams.

I can hardly wait to see our next steps beyond low-orbit to other worlds and beyond. The Space Age has only just begin, in the long-term scheme of things.

In 44 more years, no one will remember much at all about the political nonsense and horrors going on today, both the ultimately meaningless things that we get so worked up over and the monstrous things we seek to resolve (and some seek to worsen).

But most of us will remember that Neil Armstrong was the first human to visit another planet on behalf of all humankind. Heck, assuming society is still intact, we'll probably remember his words in 400 years.

Chris