Hey Lounge....Forty years ago this Summer....

[RagAss]

Neil Armstrong landed a fucking tin can on the moon with 20 seconds of fuel left. He got out of that tin can with Buzz Aldrin and walked around. They came home alive !

Just so you know, these men were not Baby Boomers. Neither were the scientists at NASA who planned this monumental achievement, which at the time it happened was the greatest accomplishment of mankind, since we learned to shit outside of our caves.

Forty years ago. 1969.

And yet this summer, mark these fucking words, we will hear far more tributes to the "sacred" Woodstock event of that same summer.

Generation Ego !

Owners of the Media !

And yeh...IMHO...they had a huge role in this national shit-storm we find ourselves in now. But good luck trying to go public with that. They own this country now. From the CEO offices to the Senate !

[UndertheOcean]

1. Wish I was alive at the time to witness such a great moment in history

Maybe we will land on Mars in my lifetime.

[RagAss]

2. I pray you can see it. I will never forget that moment .

[Left Is Write]

3. I was alive and undoubtedly witnessed it...

but I had just turned three and, unfortunately, have no memory of the moon landing.

[arbusto_baboso]

4. I was also 3, and remember it vividly.

At the time, I had no idea what was really going on, but from the reactions of people around me, I knew it was a big deal.

Yes, landing on the moon is one of those moments that makes one proud to be human. Truly one of the greatest moments of our race, as the OP said.

[Left Is Write]

5. It's funny what our brains choose to remember.

I have a very strong memory of an event that occurred when I was two (probably because it was traumatic), but I remember very little of being three at all. My sister was born when I was 3-1/2, and I remember that day really well. Other than that, not much.

My earliest memory of an important national event is Watergate.

[RagAss]

6. Sadly, my first memory in life at age 4 was the JFK assassination.

[arbusto_baboso]

7. Unfortunate that JFK didn't live to see the moon landing.

While his civil rights agenda means more for our day-to-day lives, the first moon landing is something that human history will credit to him forever. It all starts with a vision...

[RagAss]

8. Amen !

[no name no slogan]

9. I was born on the 2nd day of Woodstock, so screw you

Just kidding! :)

I agree-- I'd rather see the moon program celebrated. But the baby boomers are no different from any other generation that came before it. They all start out young and idealistic, out to change the world. Eventually they run into the realities of life (moving out of the house, getting a job, raising a family, etc.) and everything goes on like always.

Call me cynical, but I don't think we can blame the boomers for the current mess any more than we can blame F. Scott Fitzgerald and the flappers for the Great Depression.

[RagAss]

11. You're right...they do not deserve blame exclusively...

But I'm must say, that is one bloated ego of a generation there !

[arbusto_baboso]

13. Yep, hypocritical in the extreme, too.

They did every drug on the face of the planet, and gave us "free love", but God forbid young folks now should experiment with either.

[no name no slogan]

14. Yeah, they're plenty egotistical.

I will definitely give you that. And they say us Gen X'ers are/were crybabies.
:thumbsup:

[RagAss]

12. dupe

[mwdem]

10. Yeah, my 40 year high school reunion is coming up.

I haven't seen these guys in 40 years. I may go. They all look like grandparents on the website. Me, oh nooo.

[Left Is Write]

16. Yeah...

why do my classmates all look so much older than I? ;)

My 25-year reunion is this year.

[Midlodemocrat]

15. My parents woke us to watch it. Saying it was truly historical.

And, I went to Watkins Glen, which was a Woodstock wanna be, so yeah.

[Vidar]

17. Watched it with my folks & grandparents

[Ptah]

18. I was eighteen then.

From Sputnik to Mercury to Gemini and Apollo.

What a rush of a decade.

[struggle4progress]

19. I remember that! I was glued to the boob tube!

[Ptah]

21. Our parents would wake us up hours early to watch Mercury launches in B & W

[struggle4progress]

23. Ranger to the Moon!

Ranger 7!
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/EM_Ranger_7_page1.html

Ranger 9: Must-see TV!
http://www.airspacemag.com/multimedia/38001724.html

[RagAss]

24. Great links ...Thanks !

[rug]

20. No sweat, RagAss, you can play it on your Wii.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

22. I was in Farmington, NM, with a new husband,

on our way to California. Watched it on TV, held hands, and then looked at each other when Neil Armstrong uttered his famous, idiotic statement.

"Huh?" we both said.

"That's one small step for man, one giant step for mankind."

He forgot the "a" before "man."

A little more than a week later, we were in Los Angeles, and the LoBianco murders took place. Then the Tate murders. And the whole area went into shock. It was scary, being there.

We headed north, to Big Sur.................................

[Tuesday Afternoon]

25. The more things change

the more things stay the same.

[sammythecat]

26. "They own this country now. From the CEO offices to the Senate"

Isn't that always the case though? The "owners" CEO's and Senators have, in general, always been people who could remember events from 40 years ago, and they always fuck some things up.

Speaking as a Sci-Fi fan and general science buff, landing on the moon was definitely cool. No doubt about that. It was absolutely extraordinary and probably the greatest technological achievement in history. But when I think of greatest achievements of humankind, penicillin, vaccines, and modern calculus come to mind right away as extraordinary achievements that are far more important, directly beneficial, necessary, and not as monumentally expensive as placing men on the moon.

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that many, if not most, of the benefits coming from the Apollo program were incidental and serendipitous and would likely have come about while working on more practical scientific endeavors. Endeavors with more useful targets than putting men on the moon.

I agree with you in that the Apollo program was the greatest technological achievement in history, I just don't think it was the greatest achievement of all. I do, however, share completely your weariness with the overblown significance of Woodstock.

[RagAss]

27. Good points !

[kwassa]

28. well, we Boomers are better than other generations.

You should know that by now. We've told you often enough.

I remember the moon landing AND went to Woodstock, freak.

We were the real Greatest Generation. And still are, of course.

[dana_b]

29. lol - you're sig fits you well!!

:D

[RagAss]

31. LOL !

[Odin2005]

30. Apollo was The Greatest Generation's final, and IMO greatest, achievement.

As well as one of the finest hours for the so-called "Silent" Generation, the one between the Greatest and the Boomers. And the moment it happened their Boomer kids started bitching about how it was an evil waste of money. :eyes:

"Here men from the Planet Earth first stepped foot upon the Moon, July 1969. We came in peace for all Mankind"