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Armstrong Walks On Moon as World Listens
As the ears of the world listened in, American astronaut Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon today.
This accomplishment can’t be diminished, not even by the small group of nay-sayers who claim that the entire moon project was a hoax, with the “landing” staged in a government-operated sound studio. Because this event, this historical moment, took place before our own ears, we know it to be true.
The deep-voiced Armstrong stood on the lunar surface and declared, “Okay, I’ve stepped off the ladder. I am now standing on the Moon’s surface. I wish you could see this.” The transmission was full of pops and crackles, indicating the distance from which the message was sent, and the alienness of the environment the astronaut was in.
Armstrong was later congratulated via telephone by President John F. Kennedy from the Oval Office.
Today’s landing was the culmination of a program that began in 1961, when the late president Richard Nixon promised that we would “go to the Moon, and if not in this decade, then there will be some serious explaining to do.” Though President Nixon didn’t live to see the day, it turns out that he would not have had to do any explaining.