It was an unimaginable achievement, except it was imagined and, over the course of just 7 years, achieved.
President Kennedy launched the race to the moon in a speech at Rice University here in Houston in 1962. Appropriate that in 1969, Houston was the first word broadcast from the moon to a waiting world.
That achievement of 50 years ago, probably doesn’t resonate as much as it should with those who were born to smart phones and social media, encompassing billions across the planet.
Can they even imagine the stretch needed to harness computers of the day, in conjunction with hard wiring; tens of thousands of miles of wiring in Mission Control to make it a go.
Can they imagine the decision-making once orbit was achieved; the young managers and technicians who gave the go for the 13 minute lunar lander descent to the Moon surface, meaning it would be the first lunar test of bringing the astronauts back from that very surface.
To those of us who witnessed the event, it’s just as enthralling to think of today, but with the a nudging thought. Does today’s world as recipient of it all have the imagination to achieve a new unimaginable?