Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Eagle On The Moon
April 10, 2007
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

Last weekend, a group of us stayed overnight on the USS Hornet aircraft carrier. It was my first time there and I found it fascinating. Among the ship's credits is the fact that it was the ship that was used to retrieve the astronauts of Apollo 11 after their historic trip to the moon. Even now, a "trip to the moon" to me seems like something out of a futuristic science fiction movie, not something that happened 38 years ago.

Anyway, on the deck of the Hornet, they have permanently painted the footsteps that the first astronaut on the moon took when he arrived back on earth. One of the guides asked if anyone knew the name of the person who first walked on the moon. One of the scouts eagerly offered the answer and replied "Lance Armstrong". So I figured I'd make sure you guys knew the correct story. It was Neil Armstrong who was the first person to walk on the moon. Lance Armstrong is the person who has won the Tour de France bicycle race a record 7 times.

From the 1940's to the mid 1990's, the United States and the Soviet Union had what was referred to as a "cold war". There was never an actual war, but both countries were afraid that the other would amass so much knowledge and firepower that they could outdo the other. In 1957, the Soviets were the first to put a man in space and the United States was determined to overtake them. In 1962, President Kennedy boldly declared that a goal of the United States was to put a man on the moon and bring him safely home, before the decade was out. He never lived to see it, but it happened on July 21, 1969. I was 13, just about your age, and I can remember it like it was yesterday. They had a camera on the the spacecraft and the first steps on the moon were televised around the world. When Neil Armstrong took the first step, he said "That was one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

I remember driving with my brother somewhere that evening, and there were people standing out on their front lawns, just looking up toward the moon, unable to comprehend that a human being was walking up there. It was eerie. But the feat united Americans, and a lot of knowledge came from the efforts of the space program.

The vehicle that the crew used to land on the moon was nicknamed "Eagle". When it touched down on the surface, Neil Armstrong radioed back to mission control that "The Eagle Has Landed". That was true in more ways than one, because Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is an Eagle Scout.

Thank you for listening.