I confess to a little cross-posting here. I also used some of this entry on Wazzup. But it bears repeating, so…

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…well, actually it was 36 years ago today. I was pretty much glued to the TV set watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin do what no human had ever done before: set foot on the moon. Wow! In honor of that anniversary, Google has introduced a companion of sorts to Google Earth, its awesomely cool satellite mapping tool. It’s called Google Moon, and it allows you to map all of the lunar landing sites. Very cool! Be sure to zoom in on the landing sites; you’ll be surprised at what you find! Oh, and if you have time, do read the FAQ page and apply for one of their job openings.

For some more information on the lunar landings, check out this NASA site, which has loads of historical data, and this site from the Smithsonian Institution, which has lots of pictures, as well as audio and video. I particularly liked this audio clip. Who knew there was a symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>musical soundtrack playing in the background when Armstrong took his first steps on the moon?

For the naysayers and conspiracy buffs out there, you can check out Was the Moon Landing Fake?

And for those of us who long for better days when America was younger and still dreamed of a better world, and our President could speak without putting both of his feet in his mouth, check out JFK’s speech at Rice University that started it all:

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.