One Giant Leap Plus 50 Years

This past weekend, I and others on this planet celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the moon (20 July 1969), by the crew of Apollo 11. Yesterday afternoon (20 July), I went to the Saint Louis Science Center (https://www.slsc.org/) where they had a celebration of the moon landing. Various groups had tables with information and interactive programs aimed at children, including St. Louis Space Frontier (https://stlouisspacefrontier.org/), St. Louis Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (https://engage.aiaa.org/stlouis/home), Wings of Hope (https://wingsofhope.ngo/), and Schlafly Beer (http://www.schlafly.com/).

I also took in other displays at the Science Center, including a display of lunar photos taken by an orbiter and examples of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft built by McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis.

Today, the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) celebrated the "One giant leap" of Apollo 11 at its meeting. Due to flooding at its regular venue of Creve Coeur Airport (http://crevecoeurairport.com/), this was held at the National Museum of Transportation (https://transportmuseumassociation.org/) in Des Peres, Missouri. Two people who worked on the Saturn V rocket used on Apollo 11--Bill Nasse and Don Nagel--spoke about their involvement on the project and its impact on the the USA and on technology. There was a very nice crowd at this meeting, along with plenty of cake and exhibits.

This was quite a weekend for me. I was 5 years old on 20 July 1969, yet I remember much of what happened with and around the first human moon landing. Perhaps, this was the greatest event that occurred in my lifetime.

Later.