Thank You, Neil Armstrong

 From the AP:

"I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in February 2000 in one of his rare public appearances. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession."
Like taking the biggest step in the history of the world? 


Those of us that saw this event on TV will never forget it.  I went out and looked into that dark Arizona sky (we didn't have a lot of light so our skies were dark and starry) and wondered if I would go to the moon if I could.
Thank you, Neil Armstrong, for your inspiration and courage.

Comments

Juana said…
Thank you for the chance to reflect on a wonderful, humble and quiet individual to emulate. I am again an eleven-year old watching him step on the moon. Here's a wink to the moon for you, Cmdr. Armstrong.
8/25/12, 6:26 PM
Anonymous said…
My family had just moved all the way across the country from Washington, D.C. to Toppenish, WA, and I was headed into my senior year in high school a million miles away from what was familiar. We were living temporarily in a motel in Yakima when Neil Armstrong took his giant leap. That great moment helped me make that huge transition. I will always be grateful to him.

Concerned Teacher Educator
8/25/12, 9:01 PM
Anonymous said…
Nothing against Armstrong, but the space program was a jingoistic, military project dressed up as research. Cold war extravagance which distracted from real issues of poverty and class that we struggle with today. Don't forget, these space missions started using the same ICBMs that still hold our planet in a headlock of threatened annihilation.
Realist
8/26/12, 7:32 AM
Patrick said…
Thank you, Mr. Armstrong, for being a symbol of what was right on the space program, our country, humankind.

Realist, the ICBMs were already there, isn't it a good thing that some of them were used for peaceful purposes? Voyages of exploration of the past have all had elements of national interest too -- Magellan was in search of a route to the Indies not controlled by Portugal, etc. That doesn't change their accomplishment.
8/26/12, 5:59 PM
Anonymous said…
And without the space program we'd never had Tang! But seriously, so much of our modern world is based on the technology developed as part of this program. I applaud Mr. Armstrong and all the men who had the courage to "go where no man has gone before."

Solvay Girl
8/27/12, 12:03 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

Seattle School Board Meeting, Wednesday, September 18,2024

Please let us know if you attend the rally before the meeting.  Seeing photos from Twitter; looks like a good crowd at the rally. The West Seattle Blog is there reporting.  I am going to attempt to live blog so you will see abbreviations, spelling/grammar errors, etc. I will clean it up but I think it is worth trying to do. I will be refreshing the page as I go.  I am sad to see that apparently President Liza Rankin is not even going to allow 10 people over the regular 20 to testify. Just five.  Also, right at the beginning, the Board has stuck in, after Board comments, a Progress Monitoring presentation. They could have put it at the end but they didn't. They think - in 45 minutes - they can do Superintendent comments, Board comments and this presentation. I doubt that public testimony will start on-time. Tone-deaf doesn't even cover it with Board leadership. To note, apparently the district scheduled the NE community meeting on closures on Rosh Hashanah which is October 2. I
Read more