The Moon, looking at it and visiting it

Moonlight reflecting on the placid waters of Porto Rafti bay.

The Moon’s dominance in the night sky and its regular cycle of phases had profound influence in human art, mythology, calendar and religions. Gravitational forces from the Moon and the Sun are causing the tides.  Tides are more pronounced in big bodies of water and are very high when the Sun and the Moon are in alignment.  The Moon is in synchronous rotation with the Earth, which results in always keeping the same side facing us on planet Earth.

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to journey into outer space, on April 12, 1961.  Gagarin accomplishment made him an international celebrity, and a Hero of the Soviet Union.  He died in 1968 when the MIG-15 jet he was piloting crashed. 

John Glenn, Jr. became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962.   After he retired from NASA he was elected in the U.S. Senate representing the State of Ohio.  Senator Glenn became the oldest astronaut, when at age 77, flew on space shuttle Discovery.

Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the Moon.  He made his first space flight, as command pilot of Gemini 8, in 1966.  Armstrong's second and last spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing, on July 20, 1969. When he stepped on the lunar surface he uttered the famous line ”that’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind”.  Many listeners at the time believed he left out the “a”. In recent years researchers at Michigan State and Ohio State Universities analyzed the recording of the famous quote and provided evidence that he said it.   Upon retiring from NASA in 1979 he became a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati.   Armstrong was an unassuming man and lived quietly on his farm in Lebanon, Ohio.