The boy who wanted to be an astronaut.

The Palmetto Bug has posted over on his blog about the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and how one of the astronauts, Buzz Aldrin, was a Freemason. I've added a bit to that discussion by pointing out that Aldrin was actually deputized by the Grand Lodge of Texas with the charge to claim Masonic jurisdiction of the moon for the Texas Grand Lodge.

Bug's post has reminded me of the excitement I felt 40 years ago as a 10-year-old boy following the news updates of Apollo 11's voyage to the moon. And then the fateful day of the landing arrived and we were all glued to the TV listening to Walter Cronkite's commentary as we watched Armstrong descend the LEM ladder and set foot on the surface of the moon.

Much of my childhood was spent in and around the area of Cape Canaveral, Florida. My father worked for a NASA contractor from the early 60s until 1968, so I got to visit the space center often and even spent time with several of the Original Seven astronauts.

Here is a photo of me taken at the Cape when I was about 7 or 8. That is the Saturn V (the Apollo launch vehicle) on its launch pad in the background. I'm not sure which Apollo this one would have been, but it would have to have been one of the early (pre-moon shot) ones.