Assignment 4-Eliot Smith

     On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong descended from the Apollo 11 spaceship and imprinted his footstep into the sand-like substance covering the previously untouched moon.  This monumental event arguably won the Space Race of the Cold War for the United States, a feat that Americans thought very unlikely, considering the fact that the Russians were the first to send a man, Yuri Gagarin, into space.  The landing heavily boosted the morale of the American people and strengthened the concept of American exceptionalism. Additionally, the accomplishment presented a new realm of possibilities regarding extraterrestrial expansion and research.

     The picture represents an advancement for the human species as a whole.  As someone living in the 60's, to think about a man flying into a endless mass of black sky and landing on a speck of white out in the distance is nothing short of astonishing.  As Neil Armstrong himself said while bouncing around on the surface of an unexplored moon, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  This leap is one that launched the world, especially the United States, into a strange dimension of potentiality.