July 21, 2003
Anniversary of moon landing
Today is the anniversary of the first landing on the moon by American astronauts. The Guardian reprints it's
original news story of the event.
Men are on the moon. At 3:39 am this morning - nearly four hours ahead of schedule - Armstrong, the lunar module commander, opened the hatch and clambered slowly down to the surface of the moon. Minutes later Aldrin followed him down the steps of the ladder - already renamed Tranquility Base - to join in this moving, clumsy culmination of eight years of intense dedication. It was the fulfilment of a dream which men have shared since the beginning of recorded history.
The Guardian has a nice
archive of various historical events. It's nice to be able to go back and read the original coverage, one of the great things about the internet.
And fascinating to see how perceptions of events change over time. For instance, I saw
this article from 1967 analyzing Israel's victory in the Six Days war. Curiously, it's presented much more as part of the Cold War, as a victory against Communism, and as primarily a Soviet loss, not an Arab one.
Funny how things change. Now, of course, it's presented as an instance of Israeli aggression. You never hear how the weakness and defeats of the Arabs stem, at least partially, from their alliance with the Communists, or that originally American support for Israel was directed at the Soviet Union more than it was at the Arabs. Somehow this crucial aspect of the conflict has virtually disappeared from the discussion, and it's seen as strictly an Arab-Israeli matter.
