Monday, September 25, 2006

Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed!















These are the first words spoken by man from the surface of the moon. Landing astronauts on the moon and returning them safely to the earth is arguably the greatest engineering accomplishment in the history of human kind. Years later I lived across the river from the “Rocket Ranch” and had the pleasure of meeting many of the ordinary people who performed the extraordinary tasks that made landing on the moon possible.

One lasting artifact from those days of extraordinary accomplishment are a few hundred pounds of rocks, sand and dust. Most of it is locked away for study by NASA. But a few pounds are out for people to see. If you look in the right places, you can touch a piece of the moon. The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC has four moon rocks on display, one that you can touch. It is on display in the shadow of the Spirit of St Louis, near the entrance on the mall side. Here is Travel stopping to touch the moon. (You can slide your fingers under the sheet of glass, and touch the arrow shaped rock specimen.)

DG and TR

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/29/2006

    I feel compelled to comment, but I am too tired to think of anything witty, or even mildly amusing . . .

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  2. Oh my! If "penguins on the moon" doesn't cause the neurons to fire, you need a nice nap! You may wish to revisit the WickedHamster site for inspiration in that regard. (I am just adorable when I'm sleeping, aren't I?)

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  3. I come back among the living and see what I've missed, Penguins playing with moon rock and moon dust.

    Tooo many miles behind the windscreen, note to self, stop and walk around more...

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