A Beautiful, Magnificent Desolation

On Wednesday July 16, 1969 a Saturn V rocket lifted off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center carrying Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins into space.  Three days later, at 10:56 PM, the world was transfixed as the lunar lander “Eagle” touched down in the Sea of Tranquility.  More than 650 million people witnessed one of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind.

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the first moon landing.  Seeing the surface of the moon for the first time. Buzz Aldrin described it as “a beautiful, magnificent desolation.”  When the astronauts departed, they left behind the American flag, mission patches and medals honoring fallen astronauts and cosmonauts and a coin-sized silicon disk bearing goodwill messages from the world leaders of planet Earth.

Also remaining on the surface of the moon is the descent ladder of the Lunar Module bearing a commemorative plaque inscribed with the words:  “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 A.D.  We came in peace for all mankind.”

“Here is one way to conceptualize NASA's heroic era: in 1961, [President] Kennedy gave his ‘Moon Speech’ to Congress, charging them to put an American on the moon ‘before the decade is out.’  In the eight years that unspooled between Kennedy's speech and Neil Armstrong's first historic boot print, NASA, a newborn government agency, established sites and campuses in Texas, Florida, Alabama, California, Ohio, Maryland, Mississippi, Virginia, and the District of Columbia; awarded multi-million-dollar contracts and hired four hundred thousand workers; built a fully functioning moon port in a formerly uninhabited swamp; designed and constructed a moon-faring rocket, spacecraft, lunar lander, and space suits; sent astronauts repeatedly into orbit, where they ventured out of their spacecraft on umbilical tethers and practiced rendezvous techniques; sent astronauts to orbit the moon, where they mapped out the best landing sites; all culminating in the final, triumphant moment when they sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to step out of their lunar module and bounce about on the moon, perfectly safe within their space suits. All of this, start to finish, was accomplished in those eight years.” ― Margaret Lazarus Dean, Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight

Why Was Coverage Of Nation’s Apollo 11 Heroes Closed To The Press?

Sunday July 20, 2014 marked the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step on to the surface of the moon.

On Tuesday, The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer met with Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and the widow of Neil Armstrong.

The mission was the fifth manned expedition in the Apollo program. It was broadcast around the world and ignited awe for its achievement.  The landing has been a symbol of mankind's yearning for adventure and exploration into the unknown.

Reporters and television crews were not allowed to enter the Oval Office for the meeting, but photographers were given brief access.   CBS News White House correspondent Major Garrett filed a complaint about the lack of coverage available declaring the event deserved press as the members of the Apollo 11 crew were American Heroes.

“The astronauts were among the most visible, televised national heroes this country has ever known, that entire program was financed by the American taxpayer. Stills presentation of that limits television coverage of that event we believe that is a classic definition of something that should have the broadest press coverage imaginable, and we are therefore lodging a complaint against your decision to keep us out,” Garrett said.

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl wondered why there was such intense secrecy surrounding the event and went further by speculating that the decision may have been due to the criticism Armstrong made of TWMDCO’s decision to hollow out NASA’s space program—a decision that sent shock waves throughout NASA, the Congress and the American people.

Part of Armstrong’s letter read:

“For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature. While the President's plan envisages humans traveling away from Earth and perhaps toward Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years.” 

“Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.”

Obama’s third paid liar since he took office answered Karl by saying, “It’s merely a scheduling matter, there was a number of things on the president’s schedule.  You know we had a trip to the Dutch Embassy, the president making remarks at EEOB… and the president needs to get on a plane at 1 o’clock this afternoon. The president has a very busy schedule and we weren’t able to accommodate TV cameras this time."