The late CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite called the conquest of space, “One of the greatest stories of the 20th century.”
It was the avuncular newsman, an unabashed supporter of the space program, who narrated America’s quest, which was a response to the challenge by President Kennedy in 1962: “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.”
The sixties were tumultuous times: the Vietnam War, civil rights, political assassinations. The space program, with its lofty goal of sending a man to the moon and returning him safely home, gave the country a rallying point, a sense of common purpose that required The Right Stuff.
Out of that historic effort came a young Navy pilot from rural Ohio, Neil Armstrong.
Like many pilots of his day, Armstrong, who had flown 78 missions in the Korean War, wasn’t sure he wanted any part of the space program. “I can’t tell you now just why in the end I made the decision I did, but I consider it as fortuitous that I happened to pick one that was a winning horse,” Armstrong said.
It was Armstrong, along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, who were selected for the Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong was acutely aware of the significance of the mission, but he took a business-like approach.
“It seemed the most important thing to do was focus on our job as best we were able to do and try to allow nothing to distract us from doing the very best job we could,” Armstrong said.
An estimated 600-million people around the world watched on July 20, 1969 as the lunar lander touched down at Tranquility Base and we heard the message from the moon, “The Eagle has landed.”
Then later came the famous words as Armstrong stepped to the surface of the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Notably, Armstrong insisted right up until his death last weekend at age 82 that he said “… step for a man.”
The Cincinnati Enquirer’s story about Armstrong’s life and death said the most celebrated man in the history of the space program never became comfortable with the notoriety, “but he did his duty… he visited other countries, he did interviews, he was the face of NASA.”
After NASA, Armstrong kept a low profile, teaching aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. “Armstrong was never a recluse, he just lived a quiet life and turned down nearly all interview requests and offers to celebrate his accomplishments,” the Enquirer said.
Former NASA engineer, author and West Virginia native Homer Hickam called Armstrong "a clear-eyed engineer who cared nothing for celebrity."
Though he shied away from the spotlight, the achievement spoke for itself and represented an American ideal; Armstrong was extraordinarily well trained and supremely competent.
The space program of the time set a standard for excellence and achievement. It stood to reason that if we could put a man on the moon, anything was possible. Political leaders even today try to marshal forces for a project or goal by comparing it to the Apollo program.
There may never be another era like the glory days of the American space program, much to the disappointment of those who believe in pushing the boundaries of exploration and human capability. But on the occasion of Neil Armstrong’s death, it’s right to remember that once upon a time the best and the brightest responded to the challenge of a President and the aspirations of a nation and reached the stars.