Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on the moon when he hopped about for a camera on that July day in 1969, deserves the kind of greatness accorded to pioneers. With the Olympics fresh in mind, Armstrong developed the kinds of skills and mental toughness that mark gold medal athletes. He became an astronaut because he was a crack test pilot. The Air Force knew he would perform under pressure and that he had instinctive abilities that could deal with the unexpected.
Everything about the moon mission was a never-before experiment. Many of the things which could have gone wrong would have killed Armstrong and his crew at any point in the ascent and descent. Perfection in both men and equipment was required. Perfection was delivered.
Armstrong on the moon and back was much more than an astounding scientific achievement. The mission put the United States back on top. While the space race with Russia had already been won, that extraordinary first step was a knockout punch the whole world recognized and applauded.
As the soft-spoken pilot was quick to say, the U.S. landing on the moon, and all that history-making achievement brought with it, was the culmination of a national effort.
It happened because the U.S.S.R. put a monkey in space, brought it back alive and scared America’s leaders spitless.
President John F. Kennedy promised to put a man on the moon. NASA was given a blank check. Educators warned America’s public schools weren’t teaching kids enough math or science. Scientists, educators, the nation’s military and the federal government were harnessed together into a goal-oriented team.
Neil Armstrong rode to the moon on their backs, so to speak.
Bronze statues cannot be made of all the men and women who made the United States the world’s uncontested super power in those years. It will therefore be OK to make one of Armstrong, much bigger than life-size, and create a space monument around it in some prominent place in our nation’s capital — unless it belongs in Houston or Cape Canaveral.
It was an extraordinary achievement.
SO, COME TO THINK OF IT, was the perfect landing of Curiosity on Mars Aug. 6. Perhaps Curiosity would not be roving around Mars today, taking pictures and melting rocks with laser beams, looking for signs of life or the potential for life, on the red planet, if the Russians had not taken that provocative first step.
Now that Curiosity and the flawless science that put it on Mars come to mind, we withdraw the motion to build a monument to Armstrong. Monuments cost lots of money. It would be smarter to memorialize our most famous astronaut with new space missions.
Mr. Armstrong would surely salute and say, “you, bet!”
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
