Neil Armstrong dies aged 82

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

 

The very sad news that Neil Armstrong, first man to step onto the surface of another planetary body on the 20 July 1969 has passed away.

 

It will of course be history that will measure his full effect on humankind, but there is no doubt that he stood as an equal with the other great explorers of human history. His name will live on as will his achievements with Christopher Columbus, Captain Scott, Captain James Cook, Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Edmund Hillary.

 

Although I was born in 1972 some three years after Neil Armstrong left his Luna Lander and climbed down the ladder to step foot on the Moon. The impact of this one individual on both my life and every person’s life after this great achievement has been immense.

 

 

Many would say that so many thousands of hard working individuals contributed to the successful landing in 1969. But it takes a special individual to be selected and then travel a quarter of a million miles to be the first.

 

That landing and the landings that followed inspired a generation sadly let down by politicians on all sides universally. Space the last great frontier of true exploration has been mostly abandoned to robotic explorers. Perhaps this reduces the risks, but it also sanitises discovery and danger and sadly robs us of future explorers and heroes.

 

The moon, left untouched by humans for over thirty years, a sad epitaph for such a heroic achievement that was the Apollo Programme. To so many post war children and their children that our appetites and hunger for greater fetes of exploration were denied by penny-pinching governments more determined to build weapons of mass destruction of spend billions on more elaborate ways to fight wars. If just one tenth of the money spent on the American Military had been spent with NASA. I would place a safe bet that we would have seen a Mars landing by now.

 

For now, we are left with the memories of Neil and his brave crew of Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. All three pushed the boundaries of human exploration which has never been matched by any human since.

 

Rest in peace Neil, you are at home amongst the stars.

 

 "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

 

 

 

Authors Favorite Authors - Issac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

I fell in love with Asimov's books when I was just twelve years old. My mother an avid bookworm and frustrated collector of all books. Gave me Foundation to read one rainy Sunday afternoon. Probably fed up with me saying I am 'bored' there is nothing to do.

Three hours later, I had finished the book. I wanted more, and to my delight, there was Foundation and Empire and then Second Foundation. But they with huge frustration I waited for Foundations Edge and Foundation and Earth. Then of course Prelude to Foundation.

Of course, this led to reading I Robot and about the fifty spacer worlds.

I admired Asimov, and I remember the day his death was announced, I was still in my teens and I was so struck I even recorded the radio announcement. I still have that tape recording to this day. I was as you can expect upset.

However, I also moved onto other authors to feed my passion for science fiction.

To this day Asimov inspired me, I have thought about space travel, the problems with it and have come up with my own solution to travelling between the stars. Gravitational Theories etc have fed that problem solving. Of course, all of it works in my mind and in my book, Joanna's Dawn. http://joannasdawn.blogspot.co.uk/p/chapter-one-joannas-dawn-knights-of.html

Asimov was still inspiring me in 2002. I read a collection of his short stories while on holiday in Lanzarote. At the end of the book, Asimov suggested to readers that they should try writing.

I was so inspired I picked up a pencil, grabbed some plain paper, and sat on the balcony, drinking coffee and smoking, writing my first short story. Samuel VI. This developed into my first book, which has now been placed neatly in a cupboard. Over 400 pages long and 36 chapters. It was a great exercise. Maybe one day that Asimov inspired book will be shared, but for now, it stays in its dusty cupboard.

Therefore, overall, Asimov is a great writer of science fiction, but his greatest gift was engaging young minds.



Thank you Isaac