Fifty two years ago, Apollo 11 landed on the moon with Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing in the Sea of Tranquility. There they readied themselves for the historic walk on the moon. The famous quote of Neal Armstrong still rings in my ears,”One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind”.
The bar was raised by President Kennedy in 1961 announcing,”Before the end of the decade, we will put men on the moon”. I remember it all, even though I was a young teenager. I did enjoy history, but the reason I remembered this event so vividly was for a different reason.
During this weekend, my oldest brother, Bob, brought his professor friend, Larry Kerry to visit. As we gathered in the t.v. room for the broadcast, Larry became excited to be sharing this moment with so many people, He decided to order pizzeria pizza. He went a bit overboard and ordered 4 large pizzas for 8 people.
Up to that time, I had only had the pizza that my mother made. Because she had such a large family, she was conservative with her toppings. With the “Little Caesar’s Pizza”, I was surprized with the quantity and variety of toppings. Because of the number of Pizzas, we were all able to eat our fill of the pizza pies. As a concession to the special event, we were allowed to eat with our fingers in the t.v. room.
My parents were in the rocker and easy chairs in the corners. Bob and Larry sat on the paino bench and placed their plates on the closed piano key cover.
My three brothers and I were sprawled on the rug in from of the T.V. The taste of real pizza matched with the moon landing has cemented this memory from my teenage years.
We have come a long way since then. Today Jeff Bezos will launch a rocket into space, The second commercial launch with civilians aboard.
NASA continues to launch astronauts and supplies to the international space station and unmanned exploring rockets to Mars and towards Jupiter. We have expanded our knowledge of the solar system around our planet.
So, as I munch on my pizza wedge, I remember the past and look forward to the future in space.
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Space
Spoken reverently,
the final frontier
We raise our eyes,
looking to the stars,
We grasp the possibilities ,
and dream.
carolaspot@aol.com
copyright 7/20/2021
traveling up and down the blind highway 