Fifty years ago today Apollo 11 was launched, its 8 day mission, to go to the Moon, to land and to come back safely. It was the culmination of a crazy race between the two superpowers, each keen on demonstrating its ideological and economic superiority. After the calamity of Apollo 1 in 1967, the capacity of NASA to get Armstrong and his crew to the lunar surface and back only two years later was remarkable, though probably foolhardy by today's standards. But it was an inspiration and in my estimation, the most significant feat in human history.

Everyone who watched the subsequent landing on the Moon remembers where they were that day. As a fifth grader, I sat with my classmates as grainy black and white images played on the school's TV, the full significance a little lost on us. As an adult I can better understand the enormity of what occurred and just how brave those astronauts were.

The launch