Hopefully everyone is aware that today (July 20th, 2009) is the 40th Anniversary of the first moon landing by Apollo 11 astronauts. Its probably well before many of us were born (myself included), so we can't remember where we were on this momentus day.... BUT I can remember exactly where I was 20 years ago today, on the 20th anniversary of the landing. I was in the audience here:President George Bush speaks at the National Air and Space Museum's 20th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Here, on July 20, 1989, Bush announced his new Space Exploration Initiative, which was to complete the space station, return man to the moon, and bring man to Mars for the first time. The plan fell apart when NASA offered an estimated budget of 500 billion over the next 20 to 30 years to achieve the President's goal. Congress balked, and NASA returned to its earlier program of primarily robotic space exploration. From left to right are NASA Administrator Admr. Richard Truly, First Lady Mrs. Barbara Bush, Neil Armstrong, President George Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, Michael Collins, Mrs. Marilyn Quayle, and Buzz Aldrin. Much much larger version here.I was at the Air and Space Museum in DC watching a commemoration ceremony featuring President George HW Bush and the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins. (and yes, Dan Quayle!) One of the bonuses of growing up in Washington DC is the ability to go to things like this. I was in high school at the time, I remember clearly I took the day off from my summer internship and went downtown with my mom to see the ceremony. We were able to get in to the public seating section and watch (from pretty close actually). Its cool that you can find pics like this online. Bush's speech is also available on his Presidential library website now. ps - if this blog still exists on January 20th, 2013, I'll tell you all about my trip to watch Clinton's Inaguration celebration too. :-Ppps - I strongly encourage you to click here for some REALLY cool pics related to Apollo 11 if you're interested History at all. :-P
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