"One small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind..."
The space race of the 1960's was like no other event in human history. As one of our better "firsts," USA competed with USSR to be the first nation in space, or on the Moon. Cosmonaut vs. Astronaut inspired an entire generation of subject matter experts to go beyond what they believed or knew to be "possible." The events of July 20th, 1969 played their own role in defining what I now believe to be possible. I saw that moon landing with my own eyes, on a black-and-white television.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (i.e., NASA) was a media sensation before anyone knew the names of those people who had "the right stuff." America's fascination with what it would mean to put a human in space--or on the moon--was so intense that it shaped what we saw on TV or reading in Science Fiction novels.
Forty-eight years later, we don't see much on television about anniversaries like this. They'll make a big deal out of it during the 50th Anniversary, but--for now--this part of our past is mostly forgotten by the mainstream media. As I write this, the lest of the Apollo astronauts died in 2016 after a long and prosperous life. He and most of his peers lived long enough to see the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. In the next few years, 21st Century viewers will watch the Chinese land on the moon. Will that start a new space race?