As you might see (if you’re reading this 24th of July) I have marked this day with its own custom header image just like I’ve already done 4th and 14th of July. But this time it isn’t a national holiday that is observed — but in my opinion one of the most important dates in the human exploration of space. An event that is often overshadowed by everything that led up to it.
The capsule in the picture is the Apollo 11 CM right after splashdown near Wake Island (13°19′N 169°9′W) at 16:50 UTC 24th of July 1969 awaiting retrieval.
Why do I consider this event more significant than Armstrong’s “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” a couple of days earlier?
Well, the splashdown fulfilled president Kennedy’s wish to “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth” (my emphasis) expressed in the speech to Congress on May 25, 1961.
According to the story Kennedy had during the meeting with Wernher von Braun, when it was decided what was feasible to achieve during the decade (von Braun wanted most of all to send astronauts to Mars), added the words “and return him safely to Earth I hope” after that von Barun had assured that it wouldn’t be any problem to put a man on the moon.
It was the engineer and the politician. To von Braun it was just a minor detail, probably the easiest one, and obvious. While Kennedy had to be assured.
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