Even though here lately my memory seems sluggish, I vividly remember getting up early and running to watch the astronauts on TV as they visited the moon in the late 60s and early 70s. Everybody was talking about the moonwalks. In schools, churches, grocery stores and phone calls the moon would come into the conversation.
Years later I encountered those who suggested the moonwalks were fake and a conspiracy of lies. Some entered photos along with their charges that they claimed proved the moonwalks were created on a back lot studio in California. Something about the flag or the reflection in the astronaut’s helmets.
I didn’t give those suggestions credit then and I never will. Talk about one helluva conspiracy web if that were true. If anything I don’t believe there are that many Americans that could keep such a ruse to themselves, and that is only one counter argument out of many.
New photos of the moon from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter stir up many memories. Theses are the sharpest pictures ever taken of the moon. In a word, they are awesome. You can actually see the Lunar Rover tracks as well as paths made by the astronauts walking on the moon. LRO has been orbiting the moon for a few years snapping photos.
The fact that all the movements of the astronauts, be they on foot or by vehicle, landing sites and blast off sites are undisturbed, preserves this huge event in mankind’s history.
Apollo 17’s lunar rover rides are not only preserved, but the actual vehicle can be seen in its final parking place. Today’s engineers and scientist can see where the astronauts placed their equipment for experiments. There were several moon visits and all of their tracks can be identified.
Many artifacts were discarded with each visit. It has been said that future astronauts could bring new batteries for the Lunar Rover for use once again. Most of the experiments were in geological and atmospheric categories. The surface, temperatures, changes in gravity and moonquakes were of high interest. Apollo 16 left behind a gold plated extreme ultra-violet telescope used to perform the first astronomical observations from another heavenly body. 
Alan Shepard’s three golf balls he hit while on a visit with Apollo 14 is still there. The first two Shepard said didn’t do very well, but the third shot he claims went miles and miles.
Several weeks ago I mentioned I didn’t think spending money to get man to Mars made much sense to me. It still doesn’t, but after revisiting the memories of this event in our history, it does make me stop and think about the what-ifs.
Think of how long man gazed up at the moon before he even thought there were possibilities of actually traveling there. Future generations may look back with the same question about Mars.
Buzz Aldrin, who will be 81 this year, Neil Armstrong also 81 and Jim Lovell, 83, are some of our Apollo mission astronauts still around and kicking. I wonder what they think seeing these photos. Lovell of course was on the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight, which thank goodness ended well. Alan Shepard passed away in 1998. Those names are more embedded in our memories than others, but there were quite a few astronauts that took these historic flights. The astronaut in the photo above to the right is Buzz Aldrin. The photo below is Neil Armstrong.
Schools and highways along with other sites and buildings have been named after many of the astronauts. I went to Ed White Middle School in Alabama and there was a (Gus) Grissom High School as well.
What ever our future holds as far as space exploration and traveling, I think the moon will always be special with her human tracks, American Flag and Shepard’s left behind golf balls.
A good website to see many of the photos is:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/revisited/index.html
Take care and stay safe,
KJ
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