THE MAN ON THE MOON
"THAT'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN AND ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND." With these words, Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon. It was July 20, 1969, and the culmination of a national desire, first expressed by President John F. Kennedy, to put a man on the moon by 1970. This July marks the 40th anniversary of this great event, completely overshadowing the fact that July 20th is my birthday.
However, dear reader, this does not bother me, as I was "into space" long before the NASA program. At eight years of age I was a devoted follower of the comic strip BUCK ROGERS AND THE 25th CENTURY!! I faithfully followed BUCK, his companion, WILMA DEERING and his scientist-friend, DR. HUER, as they explored the planets in their rocket ships, wearing their flying belts and disintegrating ray guns, ever on the watch for that space pirate, KILLER KANE.
My friends and I had our own ray guns as we played "space" on our porch glider space-ship.
BUCK became even more interesting with a four-days-a-week radio show that brought the sounds of space right into our living room! Writer J.H Dille and artist Dale Calkins had us hooked on space travel with their far-sighted writing.
So...congratulations to latecomer NASA from a BUCK ROGERS fan.
More, later.
P.S. An extensive BUCK ROGERS COLLECTION is housed on the campus of Miami University, In Oxford, Ohio.
However, dear reader, this does not bother me, as I was "into space" long before the NASA program. At eight years of age I was a devoted follower of the comic strip BUCK ROGERS AND THE 25th CENTURY!! I faithfully followed BUCK, his companion, WILMA DEERING and his scientist-friend, DR. HUER, as they explored the planets in their rocket ships, wearing their flying belts and disintegrating ray guns, ever on the watch for that space pirate, KILLER KANE.
My friends and I had our own ray guns as we played "space" on our porch glider space-ship.
BUCK became even more interesting with a four-days-a-week radio show that brought the sounds of space right into our living room! Writer J.H Dille and artist Dale Calkins had us hooked on space travel with their far-sighted writing.
So...congratulations to latecomer NASA from a BUCK ROGERS fan.
More, later.
P.S. An extensive BUCK ROGERS COLLECTION is housed on the campus of Miami University, In Oxford, Ohio.
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