Popular Culture Review 29.2
scientists as much as I did the astronauts�especially the Ohio astronauts�who had the more glamorous position in the public eye . I grew up enthralled by space and space-travel , a member of Carl Sagan ’ s Planetary Society , a celebrator of all things beyond Earth , an amateur astronomer with crazy dreams that because the same corn and soybean fields that surrounded me had also surrounded Neil , perhaps we were not so different .
Armstrong ’ s most famous speech was that business we all know about small steps and giant leaps when he first set foot on the moon . But just as interesting is a speech he made as commander of the Apollo 11 mission while he , Michael Collins , and Buzz Aldrin were traveling back to Earth . One day before arriving home , still thousands of miles away , Armstrong addressed the world in a TV broadcast saying : “ A hundred years ago , Jules Verne wrote a book about a voyage to the Moon . His spaceship , Columbia [ sic ], took off from Florida and landed in the Pacific Ocean after completing a trip to the Moon . It seems appropriate to us to share with you some of the reflections of the crew as the modern-day Columbia completes its rendezvous with the planet Earth and the same Pacific Ocean tomorrow .”
Phase 3 : First Quarter
When the history from which we take our narratives is a history of colonialism , empire , capitalism , and violence , we must be sure to make our small steps�and our giant leaps� carefully and thoughtfully . We are not the first to ask such questions , of course . Even while most of the country was marveling at the space program and the truly incredible feat of having reached the moon , there were those who questioned why we were going and why the focus of our spending was on the space race rather than social problems at home .
14