Masonry Magazine October 2012 Page. 42
FULL CONTACT PROJECT MANAGEMENT
By "Coach" Gary Micheloni
From One Small Step to a Giant Leap
When Neil Armstrong died recently, it seemed like a part of me died with him. It is so hard to believe that he is gone, the man who first walked on the moon some 42 years ago, when I, along with hundreds of millions of my closest friends around the world, watched it all unfold.
Nations around the globe rejoiced and celebrated. Why? Everybody wanted to be a part, and the way that America went about it was extraordinary. The United States did not "claim" the moon. Instead, consider the plaque our guys left on the surface of the moon, attached to the leg of the landing module, which still remains there:
Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind. [Neil Armstrong read it aloud while standing on the surface.]
The moon landing and the walk took place on July 20, 1969; the landing about 4 p.m., and the step onto the surface of the moon around 11 p.m. EST. In advance of the occasion, President Nixon declared that July 21 would be a national holiday, so that everyone could stay up late, watch and-hopefully-celebrate. And we did!
The space program has long been celebrated in this country. People honored the heroism of the astronauts, sure, but also applauded the sheer ingenuity and resourcefulness of its engineers, scientists and technicians, along with the military that assisted in recovery at sea of the capsules as they returned to earth.
And, all of this was accomplished with computers that were bigger than a house, yet had far less capability than the smart phone you carry in your pocket today. Put another way, NASA basically ran the program with the equivalent of a pocket calculator and a bunch of very smart and dedicated people.
APOLLO 11
Successes are great. Failures along the way are almost inevitable, and always painful. Not only did the United States lag behind the Russians for the first few years of the Space Race, but we had some horrible losses as we traveled that road to the moon. We would have a rocket blow up as it was attempting to launch a small satellite, then figure out went wrong, fix it, and launch again. Sometimes there were multiple failures in a row. But things always got figured out, fixed and made to work. Plans get modified, goals don't.
In order to have an Apollo 11 as your goal, the plan had to begin with an Apollo 1. As that crew was sitting in its capsule
NEIL ARMSTRONG SAID:
That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
The Voice of the Masonry Industry