July 20, 1969. It was a perfect summer Sunday under Montana’s Big Sky. After church and a quick breakfast, we squeezed into our 1966 Rambler Ambassador station wagon with my mom’s parents. Our destination was a little town nearby where my mom’s sister lived with her husband, 6 kids, two gerbils, and a dog.
The adults were completely engaged with the coverage of the lunar landing. They summoned all of the kids to gather around the television as the door to the lunar module opened. The reassuring tones of Walter Cronkite’s voice added the proper gravitas to the situation. Fifteen of us, born between 1881 and 1964, fell silent with wonder and awe.
Then Mr. Cronkite said, “Let’s listen now to the capcom at Houston Space center, Charles Duke.” With that statement, everyone in the room, including the grandparents, burst into laughter.
The poor old mutt named Duke had been snoozing under a coffee table, but when he heard his name, he raised his head, hitting the table with a loud “thunk.” Until that moment, I didn’t know that a dog could be embarrassed. He covered his noggin with his front paws and tried to disappear. We barely quieted down enough to hear Walter Cronkite saying, “Oh, boy. Oh, boy.” It sounded as if he was speaking for poor ol’ Duke!
July 20, 2009. At 10 o’clock, I grabbed my binoculars, and drove to a nearby school parking lot. My sister, Jeanette, was waiting for me as the big dipper was making an appearance. We watched the clear, western horizon with great anticipation. And then it appeared: the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked along side. It was bigger than I expected: a large angular star moving quickly eastward. My first sighting of the ISS came on the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.
Over the years, I’ve spent many hours gazing at the night sky: sitting with my brother Denny counting shooting stars, locating the Southern Cross with my sister in Hawaii, watching the Perseid meteor shower with Lenny every year around our August anniversary, marveling at the Aurora Borealis with my brother Walt even though we were miles apart, and alerting the neighbors to eclipses, comets and visible planets.
My favorite times were hot summer nights when I would fall asleep on the backyard trampoline while stargazing with our young sons.
Yet I’m strictly an amateur astronomer, in it for the spectacle and afraid to miss anything. But after watching the coverage of the first moon shot, (including interviews with Charles Duke!) and seeing the Space Station with my own eyes, I have a new appreciation for the courage of those brave, visionary scientists.
