On the evening of July 20, 1969 my family was out in the backyard of our house in Albuquerque. We were gazing back and forth between our black-and-white television (which my dad had brought outside!) and the moon up in the sky. Neil Armstrong was walking around up there. It seemed so incredible! I was six.
A month before the moon landing Judy Garland had died. My mom had come into my room to tell me. I only knew of Judy Garland as "Dorothy" from THE WIZARD OF OZ at that point, and I wondered if we could still watch the movie on television if she was dead. I was assured we still could. A couple days later the Stonewall Riots took place an event that had a certain effect on my life since it was the birth of the Gay rights movement.
The world was so full of promise! Everyone wanted and expected equality! Blacks, Women, Native Americans, Gay people! My parents were sure equality for all (and socialized medicine!) were right around the corner. Hah!
I was sure that one day I would go to the moon, too. I didn't much imagine I would go as an Astronaut because my parents were anti-military and most of the astronauts came out of the Air Force back then. But I DID think I could probably go to some space hotel or visit the moon colony as a tourist by the time I was grown up.
It seemed SO certain! This was the era of LOST IN SPACE and STAR TREK! There was such a steady build up of moving humanity into space! One month it's men on the moon! Then it's a dune-buggy on the moon! Then Skylab! I drank Tang. I ate Space Sticks! I made toy space ship models. I wanted to build a full-size lunar lander in the backyard!
Then it happened. Or rather, "nothing" happened! The space race fizzled into nothing but a boring, old, problem-laden, Space Shuttle that looked like a normal airplane on steroids. The space race was over, they quit making Space Sticks, and little David will never get to the moon.
David
When you talk about this blog later, and you will - be kind.
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