Commentary: One small step for man was one big inspiration for a boy

Mark Marchand, Albany Times-Union, July 19, 2019

The 50 years that separate mankind from its first bold steps on another celestial body stretch out like the over 240,000 miles of hazardous outer space that lie between us and our moon. Both represent chasms that disconnect us from a historic achievement in 1969 and the omnipresent neighbor that often illuminates our nights.

As we mark this milestone July 20, time and distance allow us to pause and reflect on what Apollo 11 meant then and now.

Since witnessing Neil Armstrong’s first lunar steps on a flickering black and white TV at my childhood home in Massachusetts, I have studied that sprawling NASA effort. The massive program involved billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of men and women. I have spent endless hours trying to mine some meaning for me and my fellow humans. Despite inevitable changes in my thinking along the way, two themes remain constant: Apollo 11’s rightful place in history, and the importance of having goals and stretching to achieve them.

Every once in a while in the history of our planet, something or someone seizes us by the shoulders, and propels us to a better future, a better world. Many of us can point to favorites, but most would agree on including Johann Gutenberg’s printing press, Galileo’s telescope, the Wright brothers’ airplane, and the birth of modern medicine that nearly doubled our life spans in less than a century. The internet and web also would make the list.

On the moon’s cratered surface half a century ago, one such event occurred when a daring test pilot thrust us into a future of wonder and amazing discovery involving us and our place in a seemingly endless universe. While those steps followed a decade-long effort, they brought us together in one breathless moment amid a decade that included a Southeast Asian war, assassinations, and a bloody civil rights battle. Watch videos and listen to or read interviews where people around the planet express their thoughts at the time. A common theme was “we did it.” It is difficult to find similar moments when most of us felt such shared pride.

It was an accomplishment sparked by a young president who set an impossible goal in 1961. Homegrown American scientists and German rocket engineers who came to the states after World War II took up the challenge. They focused the capabilities of a massive military-civilian complex toward a single goal. The “hidden figures” — previously uncredited women who performed the challenging mathematical calculations needed to reach the moon and return — played a key role.

In discussions I’ve had with scientists and business leaders, some point to the Manhattan project and development of an atomic bomb as an equivalent accomplishment. The importance of that effort is undeniable, but in my opinion that project pales in comparison to the moon landing. Nothing else proves just what humankind can do.

As President John F. Kennedy reminded us in his second major speech outlining the moon project: “…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…”

My second theme, having a lofty goal and working hard to achieve it, is a simpler but no less important lesson. Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins taught us that it’s not out of bounds to consider your present situation in life, pick yourself up, develop a vision, and work hard to get there … regardless of the difficulties that lie ahead.

After witnessing the Sea of Tranquility landing, I was inspired to set tougher life goals. We were a family of meager means in Chicopee, Mass. Attending college was a pipe dream and even discouraged. I still remember a high school guidance counselor telling me I wasn’t cut out for college. Despite myriad obstacles lying in my path, I began to read about going to college. I decided to “go Apollo” on the challenge. Scraping together income from dishwashing and other part-time jobs and applying for loans, I eventually ended up at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. It was a life-altering experience. I graduated in early 1980, embarked on a career in daily newspaper journalism, and eventually became a senior manager in corporate communications at Verizon. It was a fruitful. rewarding career.

As I look back on the serpentine path that led me to Verizon headquarters and eventually to my current writing pursuits and teaching at the University at Albany, I wonder where I would have been without the example of a stretch goal so ably demonstrated by NASA. Without that type of vision, I’m confident I wouldn’t be the man I am today,

I talk about this topic a lot with my family, friends, and co-workers. They often ask if I’m disappointed we haven’t gone back to the moon. I am, but I remain hopeful that talk of sending men and women to Mars might someday become reality. Besides, nothing can ever change what Apollo meant to us and our civilization. It’s still there as a daily reminder of the boundless potential that lies within all of us.

Mark Marchand is an adjunct professor in the journalism program at the University at Albany. He published his first book, “U.S. Route 1: Rediscovering the New World” last year.

Direct link to this Op Ed on the Times-Union website.