It was a different era, a different world. There was Woodstock, Vietnam War protests, the commercial debut of the Boeing 747, "Abbey Road," and President Richard M. Nixon.
The year was 1969, and 56 years ago today, the United States also successfully landed men on the moon for the first time in human history. Legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin took to social media to celebrate the occasion:
The tweet continues:
An achievement resulting from years of incalculable effort, commitment, and team work.
We all did our part to see President Kennedy’s words become reality: “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others too.” I couldn’t be prouder to have completed this mission with the hundreds of thousands of people that helped get us to the moon and back home. God bless the USA and all of humankind.
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The 95-year-old, who followed mission commander Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surface, hailed John F. Kennedy in his message, remembering the late president’s profound words:
We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…
The speech is one of the most famous in Kennedy’s presidency as he called on the nation to literally reach for the stars—and stay one step ahead of the Soviet Union:
"Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the Moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked," Kennedy's speech concluded, according to the JFK Library.
The Apollo mission was the first time mankind stepped foot on another world. Armstrong led the way, touching down at 9:56 p.m. ET, followed 19 minutes later by Aldrin. Armstrong uttered the famous line heard by millions back on Earth, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
Interestingly, it was not exactly what he intended to say, and the omission of one letter made the sentence all that much more powerful:
…after returning from space, Armstrong said that wasn't what he had planned to say.
He said there was a lost word in his famous one-liner from the moon: “That’s one small step for 'a' man.” It’s just that people just didn’t hear it."
On the anniversary of the amazing technological breakthrough, we’ll stick with Aldrin’s words because he said it best:
God bless the USA and all of humankind.
America is an exceptional country. Join us as we continue to fight to Make America Great Again.
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