- “Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. I am the first man to piss his pants on the moon.” — Buzz Aldrin
And to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the original Moonwalk Dancers. And to Mankind.
If you’ve ever visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum you’ll have seen artifacts from Apollo 11, and come to the absolutely insane conclusion that, “Hey, they shot these dudes to the moon in the best space age polymers the could find in the 60s: Some SCUBA gear, some plastic, a garbage can, and a little tinfoil.” Nevertheless, one of the most important, inspiring events in human history is 40 years old today, and it should stand as a stark reminder to us all that we, the human race, are capable of incredible feats of ingenuity and imagination that soar well beyond the dictates of otherwise ugly nature. And that one must never underestimate the United States’, nor MTV’s, desire to plant their flags wherever they go.
All snark aside, people throw around the word “awesome” as lightly as the article “the.” And that includes myself. The moon landing was truly awesome… whether you believe man has ever truly set foot on the moon or not, you crackpot.
I’ll be celebrating the occasion flipping through my copy of Spacesuits, a wild art book from powerHouse Books that photographically chronicles nearly five decades worth of suit design and testing (can an astronaut play Baseball in the suit?). It’s absolutely one of my favorite books on the FP racks right now, and appeals to the part of me that wanted to grow up to be some combination of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and uh… um… Boshek. 
