- Joined
- Mar 27, 2008
- Messages
- 2,193
- Reaction score
- 2,585
- Points
- 574
- Location
- California
- Resorts Owned
- Hyatt Highlands Inn, Hyatt Pinon Pointe
Most of us on TUG are old enough to remember the night of July 20, 1969. It was a singular achievement, when an estimated 400 million people around the world--including me--were glued to their televisions to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the surface of the moon. This achievement seems all the more miraculous because man has not been back to the moon since December 1972. While we certainly possess the technology to do so, it takes more than that--a lot of money, the public backing to do so, leadership, and political will.
That's why I highly recommend you see First Man, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Damian Chazelle. The movie does a wonderful job of depicting the space career of Neil Armstrong, along with the immense strains on his family, the heroic and unsung efforts of his wife, Janet, back home, and the incredible risks all of the astronauts took to fulfill President Kennedy's promise that "we choose to go to the moon in this decade...not because it is easy, but because it is hard".
There has been much made by some that the director revealed his political bias by not showing Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon. He has been quoted as choosing not to do so because Armstrong believed the seminal achievement was one for all mankind. Regardless, it is abundantly clear in the movie that there existed a high-stakes space race between the United States and the Soviet Union--and that the country that achieved Kennedy's audacious goal was America.
We take for granted--now, nearly 50 years later--the truly awesome achievement of the summer of 1969. The movie First Man will give you a renewed appreciation of the courage, determination, and magnificent leadership of those who took us all on that unforgettable journey.
That's why I highly recommend you see First Man, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Damian Chazelle. The movie does a wonderful job of depicting the space career of Neil Armstrong, along with the immense strains on his family, the heroic and unsung efforts of his wife, Janet, back home, and the incredible risks all of the astronauts took to fulfill President Kennedy's promise that "we choose to go to the moon in this decade...not because it is easy, but because it is hard".
There has been much made by some that the director revealed his political bias by not showing Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon. He has been quoted as choosing not to do so because Armstrong believed the seminal achievement was one for all mankind. Regardless, it is abundantly clear in the movie that there existed a high-stakes space race between the United States and the Soviet Union--and that the country that achieved Kennedy's audacious goal was America.
We take for granted--now, nearly 50 years later--the truly awesome achievement of the summer of 1969. The movie First Man will give you a renewed appreciation of the courage, determination, and magnificent leadership of those who took us all on that unforgettable journey.