Heroes and Villains

WE PUT A MAN ON THE MOON: Before even going vertical this morning, R.E.M.'s song "Man on the Moon" was rolling round my brain. I knew today was the 43rd anniversary of American astronauts (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, in that order) setting foot on the moon. Talk about an historic event. Though I remember it, it's well before CJ and Annabelle's time, so we turned to books, photos and video for them to "experience" it.


We visited the Smithsonian Website and looked at some iconic images from Apollo 11, the top one being Buzz Aldrin standing in his spacesuit (above), the sun casting his shadown on the moon's surface, with the reflections of fellow moon walker Neil Armstrong and the lunar lander in his visor.


We checked out other still shots and footage from the day, including a slideshow on YouTube featuring Apollo 11 images set to REM's "Man on the Moon" song.
We also watched a wonderful, poignant video love letter to the Apollo program from Carl Sagan. 
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8Xtly-dpBeA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>iframe>
And we spent some time re-reading a favorite book we own - "Moon Landing"- a phenomenal pop up book published in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk.

After all of that, the kids each wrote a little something about the event.

43 years ago, the Eagle launched in space. Three heroes were on the Eagle, which are Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins. When the Eagle landed, Neil A. Armstrong said "Tranquility Base here. The eagle has landed.". That quote is often used when something big happens. The reason NASA needs to send more astronauts to the moon is because if it was successful back then, it will probably be more successful now using modern technology.

Annabelle weighed in, as well.

43 years ago, the 'one small step for men, one giant leap for mankind' dream was accomplished. We had all dreamed about going to the moon, and Apollo 11 made this dream possible. Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. 'Buzz' Aldrin JR., and Michael Collins went to the moon. When they returned, they were welcomed as heroes. My one question is: If we could afford going to the moon then, why not now? We have advanced our technology so much we could find even more about the moon than we know now. We could drill for minerals, go into the moon craters, and even see if there ever was life there. We need more men on the moon, so we could discover more things about it. 

We need to go back to the moon because it may be hiding something that we couldn't find back then, and could find now. The moon is a beautiful place, meant for us to explore. So why stop exploring such a beautiful place? The moon is a dusty grey ball, but it means more to us than any other moon. Because this is our moon. It is our job to explore it. No man has stepped foot on the moon since 1972. We need more Eagles to land. We need more info. So we shouldn't stop exploring, no matter what. We need to step foot on that dusty, grey surface again. We need to explore, discover, and learn.

JAPANESE STYLE: After dinner, we tuned in to NASA TV to watch the launch of an H-2B rocket sending an unmanned cargo craft to the ISS. It was the first time we've watched a launch from Japan. Their launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center is picturesque - on a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Here's a photo of it from a previous H-2B launch.

IMAGE: Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency - http://jda.jaxa.jp/result.php?lang=j&id=34e0e6aeae445b619931256a0bc7b9f1
There was incredibly dense cloud coverage during today's launch, so we got to see the rocket fire for all of five seconds or so before it disappeared. But it was fun listening to the launch in Japanese. Even though I didn't understand a word they said, I could have told you it was a launch they were talking about. It's just a distinctive patter no matter the language.


DARK MORNING RISES: CJ bounded out of bed at 5:20 this a.m., raring to go with Rick to see the new Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. Because you HAVE to see it on opening day, you know, and the earlier the better. Well, unless you went to the midnight screening in Aurora, CO's Century 16 theater. :(


I had just sent CeeJ and Rick out the door with Christian (who dropped them at the Pacific Science Center's IMAX theater on his way to work) when I turned on the Internets and saw the shocking news about the massacre. I immediately and irrationally wished I hadn't sent the boys to the movie, but then I quickly convinced myself that, of course, the random awful act of violence in CO had absolutely nothing to do with any other Batman screening anywhere. 


When CJ got home, he started hearing about the killings and he couldn't get enough info about it. He started combing the Internet for stories about the shooter and his background while he was listening to MSNBC and CNN on cable. I could tell that he was trying to make sense out of it and I was trying to explain to him that there will be times in life where you just can't make sense out of the senseless. Young as he is, he isn't quite ready to accept that. Can't say that I blame him.