It was a week ago today we (should have) observed the 50th anniversary of man landing on the moon.  Other than one article in one magazine and a quick mention on that morning’s news, it went on with about as much notoriety as my 50th birthday. At least from my perspective. I saw no television specials, no major magazine special editions, no public service announcements, not even a “Google Doodle.”

Granted it had a lot of competition. This year’s June included the 75th anniversary of D-Day not to mention the 81st anniversary of the debut of Superman in comics. June 20 was also Ice Cream Soda Day in the United States so it is quite obvious why such a mundane event as walking on another celestial body would be overshadowed.

I guess it was fitting that the occasion was celebrated with the same excitement that most of the US space program generated among the general public. The early Mercury flights were reason for the elementary school principal to pull us out of our classes so we could watch the launches on a then large screen (15 inch!) TV in the auditorium. But by the time Aurora 7 launched with the fourth manned Mercury mission (and the first after Friendship 7 carried John Glenn three full orbits around the earth), long division took precedence. Likewise with Gemini. I remember Ed White’s first space walk on Gemini IV and vaguely recall the rendezvous maneuvers of Geminis VIa and VII and Gemini VIII’s docking with the unmanned Agena but what happened going through Gemini XII is as much a mystery to me as what happened to my short term memory. By the time the Apollo missions began I was I heading off to high school where we got time off for nothing. What I remember of the moon missions I read or saw on my own time and the only ones that stand out are the disastrous launch pad fire in Apollo 1 taking the lives of Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, Apollo 8 and the first manned flight to orbit the moon, and the Apollo 11 moon landing. I remember Apollo 10 only because I was and still am a big Peanuts fan (look it up), Apollo 13 after the fact because of the movie, and Apollo 17 because it was the last. What happened in those flights must not have been enough to impress a teenage boy intent on testing for his down to earth driving license. After that Skylab came and went, the Space Shuttles were interesting while they were operational, and the only time I think of the International Space Station is…um, almost never. There you have it. An average American’s review of the American space program.

According to a NASA database of all things that ultimately made their way to the non-NASA universe, Project Apollo alone accounted for over 1800 products and applications. The US space program is credited with the development of radial tires, scratch resistant eyeglass lenses, powdered lubricants, solar power cells, freeze dried food, memory foam, and computer mouses (mice?). In the medical works we saw advances in imaging including MRIs and CT scans, the LVAD cardiac assist device, improved prosthetic devices, the temporal thermometer (that thermometer they touch to your forehead to measure your body temperature), and even LASIK surgery. All from a forgotten program.

Because you probably didn’t do anything last week, sometime today when you slip on your sunglasses or sink your comfy foam filled recliner, remember you get to do those because of the contributions of the men in space and those who supported them, and that crowing achievement of June 20, 1969, man’s first step on anywhere not Earth. Happy belated anniversary Neil, Buzz, and Mike.