My First Steps

My mind was racing. All of the beeping and flashing lights were above my head, out of the way. Even then, I couldn’t stop watching them. There were so many that I got dizzy looking at them. I looked out the window instead and my breath caught in my throat. The moon lumbered closer and closer. I needed to tell Houston. “ We’re getting the first view of the landing approach ." What a sight it was. I gasped as I saw where our autopilot was taking us. It was taking us into an immense crater, about the size of a football stadium. I felt lost in its vastness. Too many rocks. I overrode the autopilot and took a detour. A red light started to flash. Now I have to fly a thousand ton spaceship and watch this annoying red light? Great. 1

“ Hey, Buzz, “ I asked, “ What’s that red light? I can’t tell.” I really hoped it wasn’t serious. 2

“ We’re losing a little more fuel than we expected. Nothing to worry about.” He said with a smile. 3

“ Who’s worrying?” I certainly wasn’t. Apparently, neither was Buzz. We looked at each other and nodded. We needed to land safely, and then we would worry.4

We got closer and closer to the moon. My hands started to sweat. My heartbeat rose dramatically. The readings showed my heartbeat rise from the normal 77 beats per minute to 126 . We started to get even closer. Buzz started to give me altitude readings as I steered. 5

“ 700 ft., 21 down… 400 ft., down at 9… " On and on they went. This is it. The surface got very close. There. We touched down like a jet on a runway. Bouncy. For a second I was reminded of my Air Force days. My pressed uniform. The loud sound of fighter-bombers around me. The adrenaline in my first flight. Getting shot down. It all came back. I snapped back to the present. I had to radio Houston.6

“ Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the reply.7

“ Roger, Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot. " Buzz and I chuckled. I looked out my window and saw a gigantic crater. It seem like it was at least 100ft. across. My attention was drawn away when Buzz said, “ Let’s have some dinner, huh?”8

“ Yeah, uh, sure.” We unhooked ourselves from our seats and I felt myself being lifted. The zero gravity training was nothing compared to this. You could never get used to it. When we finished our silent dinner, we got to work on the pre-moon walk schedule. We checked readings and also our spacesuits. The anticipation and the anxiety built up with every passing minute. What if something leaks? What if we can’t get home?9

What if I never see Jan again? Soon, though, it was time to walk. We strapped on our suits and opened the hatch. Since I was the commander of the lunar module, I was to go first. What should I say? Something important like, this is just a small step. No not enough. That’s when my thoughts drifted to the hundreds of people who made this happen and everyone who wanted it to be successful . That’s when it hit me. I walked onto the nine-rung ladder and started to descend it, knowing that there were millions of people watching my every move. Space was like a vacuum cleaner bag. Dirt and silence. Nothing moved. Nothing lived. It was like the desert. The middle of nowhere. I could taste salt and realized that I was sweating, despite the fact that it was below zero. This is amazing. I saw the stars shining brilliantly above me. It was mystifying. My teeth clenched, I was about to put my foot on the surface. There was a silence so deafening that my ears started to ring. I knew that everyone was holding their breath, even me. Breathe, breathe. I stuck my left foot onto the surface. Hmm… powdery, squishy… kind of like sand. 10

“ That’s one small step for man, on giant leap for mankind.” Damn, I forgot the ‘a’. They’re going to get me for that later. 11

I couldn’t believe it. I was on the moon. Buzz followed me out. He was supposed to monitor my ability to operate and move about. Surprisingly, I could move around fairly quickly. We bounced around a little and then collected moon samples, as directed. Towards the end of the walk, we took out the flag. Buzz unfolded it and we both stared. O.k. He planted the flag into the soft ground and we stared at it again. A tear ran down my face. I thought of Sharon. My baby. Two years old and taken away from me. This was for her. Then I thought about what it took to get us here. Houston, the other Apollo missions. Everything. It was a little overwhelming. We finally and silently reentered the lunar module and began our preparations for take-off. I was now a big shot. A history ‘hall of famer’. I am Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. 12

* * * 13

Neil Armstrong is acclaimed for being the commander of the Apollo 11 mission and for being the first man to set foot on the moon. He was a fighter pilot who got shot down in Korea and was also an astronaut on the Gemini 9 mission. He had a two-year old daughter who died of brain cancer in 1962, seven years before his famous moonwalk. He now has two sons, but his wife divorced him in 1994. He rarely accepts interviews and says that he is somewhat uncomfortable about being a celebrity. He once told a reporter, “ How long must it take before I cease to be known as a spaceman?” When asked about this, he replied, “ I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.”14