Today is the 40th anniversary of one of humanity’s greatest achievements: setting foot on a celestial body other than our own. I still remember that day in the summer of my tenth year, watching with my parents and brother as something never before done by human beings was broadcast to the entire world. It fired my imagination, and for a time I wanted nothing more than to be an astronomer and study the heavens. Though that was not to be, I still can’t look at the night sky without wonder, and now, at least, without a word of thanks to the Lord for creating this universe we live in.

I should also add that I was filled with a kid’s kind of pride when I heard that the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, was from northern New Jersey, and had gone to high school in Montclair, less than an hour from my home in Parsippany. The world remembers Neil Armstrong, and rightly, but I’ve always had a special regard for my fellow New Jerseyan whose footprints are also still on the surface of Earth’s closest neighbor.

Footprint_on_moon

So here’s to you, Buzz, Neil, and command module pilot Michael Collins. Thank you for going where no one had gone before.