Even though it’s been almost two months since the passing of the great astronaut Neil Armstrong, I am inspired to write a little bit about him here, this after being reminded almost daily of his passing by an issue of the Wall Street Journal lying on my kitchen counter. I decided this August 27th 2012 issue was a keeper because there were three good pieces in it celebrating the life and example of Mr. Armstrong.

As almost everyone knows that on July 21, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the Earth’s Moon. The success of the Apollo 11 Mission was a marvel of human ingenuity and science.

Astronauts are a rare breed. To be successful they must all possess qualities of extreme bravery, intelligence, learning, clear thinking, logic, soundness of mind and body and an ability use reason over emotion even under great stress. Neil Armstrong by all accounts possessed all of these qualities and more. Its guys like Neil Armstrong that have made this country great.

Somewhere, I’m not sure where, maybe in my garage or at the bottom of a closet, is my childhood scrapbook. I haven’t seen it for quite some time, but I think it’s time to dig it out. It contains pages of newspaper clippings from that early age of space travel. It will be fun to look at it again. I have probably lost some of my fascination with space travel since I was a kid, but my fascination with those early astronauts has only grown with time. They still have a lot to teach us. Click here to link to a great Wall Street Journal piece on Neil Armstrong. Unless you are a subscriber to the online Journal you will not be able to access the entire article.

Canutus