These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind."
Thanks for this. Awesome.
Its pretty amazing that he didn’t end of giving the speech considered all the potential disasters they encountered.
I wonder if NASA had already figured out the trajectory for Collins to return without the added weight of Armstrong and Aldrin and rocks?
I can only imagine the relief that Armstrong and Aldrin felt when the ascent engine kicked in and launched them skyward. The fact that they might be stranded on the lunar surface to die must have been in the back of their minds. I wonder what would have happened had they been stranded. Would they simply wait to run out of oxygen or would they get it over with quickly by way of cyanide capsule or maybe ripping off their pressure suits and exposing themselves to an instant death. Either way beats running out of oxgen and dying a slow, painful death by way of asphyxiation. I think there was a science fiction story I read a long time ago that dealt with this.
Anyway, glad Nixon never had to give that speech.
Rush talked about this today. I think he was right that there was a one chance shot of firing the rockets to lift off the moon and recouple with the command module. I’d forgotten about that with the lunar landers.
"Circumstances that were beyond my control, that I was in no way able to prevent, ordained that the men I sent to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
I have told these brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, that although I know that there is no hope for their recovery I also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice that they have made for my space program.
I understand with great appreciation that these two men are laying down their lives in pursuit of my most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding and the fostering of Islamic appreciation of the Muslim role over the centuries in the development of science.
I realize that these men will be mourned by their families and friends; I know they will be mourned by their nation; I know they will be mourned by the people of the world; I sense they will even be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown. Most of all, they will be mourned by me, their Commander in Chief, Barack Hussein Obama.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one as I stirred the voters to come together as one in our historic election; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man as it works together to establish my dream of fundamental transformation and change.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, I do much the same, but my heroes are epic men of flesh and blood and this is why, as military men, they are known as corpsemen.
Others will follow, and surely find their way back to my home, the Earth. My search will not be denied. But these men were the first to follow my dream, and they will remain the foremost in my heart.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know, as I do, that there is some corner of another world that is forever a beacon of my hopes and desires for a new world."
Which reminds me, has Obama taken credit for the moonshot yet?
I heard Rush talking about this today. I never heard what the actual plan was if the LEM rocket didn’t fire. Suicide pills?
Either way, my respect for the bravery of these men was raised yet again.
_... for later.
WHAT IF THE NORMANDY LANDINGS HAD FAILED?
.
The moon landings were nothing when compared to D-Day.
Had D-Day failed, the Swastika would have been planted on the Moon.
The landing at Tranquility Base was far from tranquil. NASA’s plan was to have large fuel safety margins and an abort plan available for any emergency. Yet the ‘Model A’ computer in the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) went into constant alarm mode which meant that Neil Armstrong had to manually fly the LEM over an unacceptable landing field and finally set down with 15 seconds of fuel remaining. Thus the Houston reply about “... a lot of guys turning blue...” to their Tranquility Base announcement.
R.I.P. Neil, fly with the eagles now!
PS: The first permanent base on the Moon should be named Armstrong-Kennedy but most probably will be some Chinese name instead!
Neil Armstrong was a test pilot by trade. He knew it was a 50/50 chance every time he went up in an experimental or pre-production aircraft the thing might not work as advertised.
BFL, This is getting interesting.
The Apollo astronauts put their lives on the line for the cause of manned space travel. Some DID die in that goal.
It is a disgrace that their sacrifices have been ignored by The One who would rather use NASA to trumpet the scientific contributions of Islamists than continue the program to “go farther”.
They will all pass away soon, many having witnessed America’s retreat from the space race.