More than One Giant Leap....

Not so long ago (well, to me, anyways!) the world was holding it's collective breath as the first space capsule landed on the moon. It is thought that 500 million persons around the world watched as Apollo 11 landed and the first step was taken on the moon that July 21 in 1969.



Neil Armstrong's first step:  NASA/Science photo Library

 Our parents had a resort in the Okanagan and I spent every summer cleaning motel units.

This day was no exception.

I was 14 years old and as everyone else, I was swept up in the excitement of the moment. My mom and dad set up a black and white television on the lawn so that the customers could all watch the televised coverage of the moon event.

I was supposed to be working - changing towels - but it was important to me not to miss this historic event so I sneaked into the storage room where a tiny 13 inch black and white TV was sitting abandoned on the shelf.

In the blackness of the small windowless room - save the dim flickering of the screen, light bouncing off shelves of clean towels and sheets, me standing amongst assorted buckets and used lumps of laundry on the floor with the pungent smell of Pinesol and dust burning in my nostrils - I watched Neil Armstrong step off the ladder and onto the moon.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" was heard around the world.

A faint cheer welled up from beyond the closed door of the storage room - from the lawn where, by this time, a small crowd of seventy or so people had gathered in front of the TV.

I was so excited by this unbelievable accomplishment, but because I was supposed to be working, I wasn't able to share it with anyone.

I will never forget that day.

So, it amazes me when something like this video below comes out and is posted on Youtube where only some people will watch it and then they will then yawn and say..."oh yeah" and go onto the next big thing, only somewhat impressed....maybe.



It's a time lapse movie of a flyover by the International Space Station - starting in the Pacific over North America and travelling down the coast of South America to the Antarctic.

The first cities you can see are Vancouver and Victoria....then Seattle and on down to Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Pretty cool.

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