The Lunar Landing

Paper Summary:

This paper briefly discusses how, when Neil Armstrong took his "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" on July 21, 1969, he seized the world's imagination and thrust it into a wondrous new era of space exploration, giving America the morality boost it needed to obtain victory in the Cold War.

From the Paper:

"On the day of the landing, over five-hundred million people all around the world watched as the astronauts took their first steps on the moon. The enormous milestone inspired a generation of cult-like followers, all obsessed with The Final Frontier. As NASA's Chief Historian Stephen J. Dick recalls "Prior to 1969, America's youth aspired to be firefighters or policemen; after Apollo 11, kids came into the kitchen saying "Mama, I'm gonna be an astronaut!" (Dick). Business leaders took strong notice to the space craze and began marketing their products towards its fans. Astronauts began gracing lunchboxes and the space drink Tang became an instant hit. Sales of space-related items quadrupled in the year following the lunar landing (Martin 106). It seemed nothing could stop this new movement--the space fad snowballed into an entity that endures to this day. Few can resist the magic associated with outer space."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dick, Stephen J. "The Lunar Landing." NASA. 28 Feb. 2008. NASA. 29 Feb. 2008 <history.nasa.gov>.
• Martin, Greg. The Space Effect. Boston: Johnson Inc., 1999. 105-106.
• Murphy, James M. The Great Race. New York: The Wilmington Group, 1997. 78-79.
• Taylor, Mark. The Cold War. New York: Terry Co., 2003. 94-95.
• Wellstone, Larry. "Here's to Apollo 11." Popular Science 6 Oct. 1998: 1-2. Galileo. 29 Feb. 2008.

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