My Reflections on the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

I just watched a video about the Apollo 11 Moon Landing fifty years ago. My first thought was this had to be wrong because I was 19 years old when it happened, then I did a little quick calculating and had to admit that it really was 50 years ago. 

I remember that day. We had watched the blast off and listened to the radio communication as the rocket traveled toward the moon. The NASA control room was a familiar place. 


My family tensely gathered around our television as the moment came for the lunar landing. We listened to the voices of the astronauts as they  prepared to step onto the moon's surface and were thrilled that we were able to see man's first footstep on the moon. I felt glad that it went well and proud of the accomplishment of man being able to walk on the moon. It felt like this event belonged to all of us-- all mankind. Though we were happy that they were able to land on the moon, no one really relaxed until these three men were safely back on earth. 

Was I all excited about exploring space? No. Why wasn't I? For years we had watched many missiles head up into space and orbit around the earth. We had seen animals and humans who had gone up, but never returned alive. Sickeningly, we had been following the "Space Race" and knew that those few moments of walking on our moon had cost many lives. We were glad that these three men made it safely back home to their families, but I know that many people besides me, didn't want to risk other lives just so we could say that we walked on non-earth soil.  

Another reason enthusiasm for space travel diminished, was that everyone realized that humans beings had gone as far as we reasonably could, at least until we mastered faster than light travel. Space was big! Sure, mankind made it to our relatively close moon, but we, personally, couldn't expect to go further. There was a little sense of sadness in accepting our limitations and a lot of relief when exploration turned to unmanned transmissions.  Now, we could be fascinated by pictures taken out in space, knowing that only machines were risked, not living beings, to acquire these photos.

Yes, this is a day to remember. It is the day when we all gasped when we saw the incredible beauty of our world. It was also gave us a humbling perspective as we saw how small our blue jewel-like planet looked in the vast blackness of space. Some wondered if we were the only life in this immense ocean of space. Some claimed that this moon landing "proved" that God did not exist. I thought they were silly. Did they really think that a being that had the intelligence and power to create worlds was "the man in the moon"?

Yes, this day changed how we saw ourselves. It opened our minds and enlarged our vision. We had seen ourselves from space and could never be the same again. Our small differences of color, and race; of nations, resources, and powers could not be seen from space. How could we ever be the same after seeing that we all were together on a beautiful, fairly small, fragile ball in space. 



https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2017-01-003-we-dont-need-to-be-the-same-to-be-one?category=social-media-shareable-videos&lang=eng