So headlined the July 21, 1969, Times-Enterprise. At 3:17 p.m. our time on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module landed at the Sea of Tranquility, a dust covered, relatively smooth plain of an ancient lava flow. Six hours and 39 minutes later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, followed by Buzz Aldrin 19 minutes later. A third astronaut, Michael Collins, orbited the Moon above them in the command/service module from which the lunar module had departed and would return.

A day later, the two Moonwalkers lifted off the Moon and rendezvoused with the command module. The they then joined Collins, and the lunar module was undocked and crashed into the Moon. The currently running film, Apollo 11, uses historical footage to chronicle the mission.

One year later, Apollo 13 bound for the Moon suffered a major service module explosion, shortening the life of the command module support systems to only a few hours. All three astronauts climbed into the lunar module and used it as a lifeboat for a four-day coast around the Moon and return to Earth. The lunar module could not survive reentry, so the astronauts transferred back to the command module minutes before reentry.

From youth, I had kept a scrapbook of Russian and American activity in space. In August, one month after the landing of Apollo 11, I graduated from engineering school. I began constructing equipment to hear voice transmissions from the Apollo spacecraft and by 1972, as a part of my masters thesis at Arizona State, I finally succeeded with Apollo 16 and Apollo 17. As far as I know, I was one of only two private citizens to do so.

Why was America successful while no other country has succeeded even 50 years later? First of all, the Cold War gave impetus to retaining technological superiority, and President Kennedy provided a clear mandate. A German scientist, Dr. Wernher von Braun, had developed the V-2 rocket that terrorized London during WWII. At the end of the war, he surrendered to Americans, became a U.S. citizen, and developed the Saturn 5 rocket for NASA. A massive rocket to lift the heavy spacecraft to the Moon was required. The Saturn 5 had significantly more thrust even than the later Space Shuttle. To this day, the Saturn 5 remains the most powerful rocket ever built. Von Braun also demanded backup for all critical systems. There is no pulling to the side of the road to fix parts in a space mission.

This summer is meaningful to my wife and I because it is our also our 50th anniversary. During the 50th anniversary of this historic event (the landing, not the wedding), there will be many televised specials. I plan to use this opportunity to relive this unique moment in American history.