Blog Post 1: Section A

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Apollo_11_lunar_module.jpg

This is a picture from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, the first successful human lunar landing mission. Seen in the picture is the lunar module Eagle ascending from the moon and approaching the command module Columbia, where the photo was taken. Taken by Michael Collins, command module pilot, this photograph theoretically contains every other human ever to exist throughout all of time, a fact which I find very mind-blowing. Everything that has ever happened throughout all of history and everyone we have ever known or done has occurred on the small planet in the scene. This photograph has always inspired me, showing the possibilities of space exploration and how far humans could go 45 years ago. The technologies used in this mission are way ahead of its time and it blows my mind that this was possible when the electronic handheld calculator was not even invented yet. Upon landing on the moon, the lunar module only had 25 seconds of fuel remaining, an extremely close call to this amazing feat. The mission also used computer with less processing power than that of a basic cellphone. This accomplishment in space history opened up the window for many future missions, including possible lunar colonization and human missions to mars. This picture inspires me to continue my effort to become a future aerospace engineer and work towards these missions. With today’s growing aerospace and computing technologies, it is almost undeniable that more space exploration even greater than this will occur in the near future, hopefully with my help.