“The Eagle Has Landed”

On this date thirty-eight years ago, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, leaving Michael Collins orbiting
above. Armstrong announced the landing, saying “The Eagle has landed.” We all stayed glued to the TV set to watch the historic event, absorbing everything we could till the astronauts were back in the lunar module for the night.

A day or so later, my grandfather was remarking on what was so striking to him in watching the landing. He mentioned that as a young man he had spent the afternoon in a park in St. Louis, Missouri, watching as a pilot worked very hard to get a Wright flyer off the ground. By the time of the moon landing, he and my grandmother had taken a round-the-world vacation by commercial airliner. My grandfather never ceased to be amazed at the progress made by humanity in just his one single lifetime.