Can anyone who saw it on tv, forget it?

That day in July, 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the lunar module EAGLE landed on the Moon. As they landed, Michael Collins orbited the Moon in the command module, COLUMBIA and waited for Neil and Buzz to join him the next day.

It took four days for the APOLLO 11 crew to make it to the Moon. NASA wants to go back, then on to Mars, then to where?

The left an American Flag and a message on the Moon. The message says, HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON, JULY, 1969 A.D. WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND.

I think it is interesting that the message they left said A.D. The explorers wanted other visitors to the Moon to know that it happened in the year of “Our Lord.”

Was there a greater mission in the history of the world, of the universe? I think so, but there were no tv cameras, nobody applauded or said, “great job”, there was no confetti, no phone call from the president? It was when Jesus left Heaven, bypassed the Moon, and came to our planet to save us.
Buzz Aldrin said he and Neil prayed when they landed EAGLE on the Moon and he conducted a little service to thank the Lord for their success. All three prayed when they headed home to earth.

Gene Cerman, commander of the Last APOLLO mission that landed on the Moon said these words as they headed home, WE LEAVE AS WE CAME AND, GOD WILLING, AS WE SHALL RETURN, WITH PEACE, AND HOPE FOR ALL MANKIND.

(Backyard Galaxy is a weekly series featuring reflections from Fr. Michael Suchnicki dealing with God, thoughts from the friary backyard and on our Milky Way Galaxy.)