Fly Me to the Moon

Forty years ago today, man stepped on to the moon for the first time. Neil Armstrong touched his foot to the dusty surface and said “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”.  Armstrong wasn’t only stepping on to the moon that day.  He, along with Buzz Aldrin and pilot Michael Collins, stepped straight into the history books.

Can you imagine what it must have been like?  Science fiction is filled with those who want to go “where no man has gone before”.  For these guys and the other 24 Americans who have either flown to, or walked on, the moon, it is no fiction.  I wonder how you go back to your regular life after something like that?

In article written for Wired in 2004 Xeni Jardin recalls going on a zero gravity flight with Buzz Aldrin.  During the flight Aldrin mentions that he has taken up scuba diving “because he grows homesick for floating”.  I wonder if it was more than just gravity that weighed on him after his return to Earth?

Does the whole world would seem a little duller if you’ve been to a place you could never return to?  Imagine all of the years of training and preparation, the excitement of those perfect days of actually being there, and then suddenly you know for sure that this incredible experience will never be repeated.

No one has stood on the moon since 1972.  For most of us, the moon is simply a familiar feature in the sky.  But for two dozen Americans it is something else entirely.  For them, the moon is a dream that came true once when the whole world was watching.

Do you have a dream that feels as far away as the moon? Try our Life Lesson “Living with Significance”.

Image courtesy of Pareeerica. Used with permission under a Creative Commons 2.0 license

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