I grew up in rural Idaho in a home without television. But forty years ago today, our family stopped by a neighbor’s home on the way home from evening church service to watch television coverage of the the moon landing. What a wonderful experience! I had grown up through the age of Sputnik, Vanguard, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. The first time I can remember being punished for doing something wrong was when I stole paper from my first grade classroom to draw pictures of rockets! To witness the first manned space flight to the moon was fantastic.
![Flag on Moon Flag on Moon](http://www.americansc.org.uk/images/NASA/flag.jpg)
So today, as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of this event, I tip my hat again to all those who made it possible – from President Kennedy who challenged the nation to accomplish this incredible feat – to the engineers who used slide rules, not handheld calcualtors, to design the equipment – to the brave astronauts who had the privilege to make the journey. Bravo all!