The Space Age at Sixteen
It has been sixteen years since Sputnik. I was 32 years old then, a man in a bathrobe in Ohio staring up at an ordinary sky. Now I'm 48.
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Tag: reflection
Apollo 15 Home — The Science Is the Point Now
Apollo 15 splashed down today. Nearly eighteen hours of moonwalk time. Three rover traverses. The Genesis Rock. The Feather and Hammer experiment. Al Worden's deep-space EVA. This mission changed the character of Apollo — from "can we do it" to "what can we learn." I am deeply satisfied.
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Apollo 12 Home — We’re Getting Good at This
Apollo 12 splashed down safely yesterday. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean walked the Moon twice, visited Surveyor 3, and brought home 75 pounds of samples. Dick Gordon flew solo in orbit. Six men have now walked on the Moon. I keep saying this to myself: six men have walked on…
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What Does It Mean That We Went?
Two months since the landing and I'm still trying to figure out what it means. Not what happened — I know what happened. What it means.
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I Looked Up Last Night
Apollo 11 splashed down safely on Thursday. Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins are home. But last night I walked outside and looked up at the Moon, and it was different. It looked different. Not because anything had changed about the Moon. Because something had changed about me. About us. It's not…
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The Night After the Landing
The night after Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the Moon. I couldn't sleep. I sat up until 2 AM with this notebook.
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What 1968 Was
1968 is over and I'm trying to figure out what kind of year it was. The worst year and the best year. The year America broke and also the year it reached the Moon.
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Gemini Is Over — And I Can’t Believe What We Did
Gemini 12 splashed down yesterday and the Gemini program is over. Ten missions. Ten crews. Every major skill required for a Moon landing has been demonstrated. Rendezvous, docking, long-duration flight, spacewalks. We started two years ago not knowing if any of this was possible. We know now.
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