"TRANQUILITY BASE,THE EAGLE HAS LANDED"

I was 10 years old when Buzz Aldrin announced that Apollo 11 had landed on the moon surface and Neil Armstrong took those small steps and giant leaps. I remember the fuzzy TV images and the sense of wonderment that men were exploring another planet. Forty years later we can reflect on perhaps the most theatrical example of mans scientific progress and also the most amazing testimony to the fulfillment of a politicians pledge. President John F Kennedy had promised in 1961 that America would reach the moon and return it's astronauts safely to earth. In our current era where pledges and manifestos are less like tablets of stone, more like pillars of chalk,it is hard to know where JFK got his sheer ambition and bare faced cheek! Maybe part of the answer is that he was a true leader, a statesmen and a man with purpose to match his vision. It's hard to see where our generation of leaders will plant their flag. In 40 years it would be a revelation to think that 2009 was the junction point where bold intentions on climate change, 3rd world poverty or cures for cancer were implemented and not just talked about.