It was 40 years ago today.

Above: The only good photo of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon. [Photo taken by Buzz Aldrin.]

In all of human history, there are many dividing lines we can arbitrarily assign. Before and after the use of atomic weapons, before and after the invention of the light bulb, before and after this war or that.

But there is one dividing line that can inspire us, fill us with wonder, make us dream of bigger goals, higher aspirations, better ways to live our lives for the future. And that is the dividing line between the time we were a race shackled to the ground, confined to a single planet… and the time a human being stepped foot on another world.

And there it is, in pictures and in fact. This is what these pictures mean. We humans spend a lot of time looking around, looking out, looking down. But sometimes, for just a brief moment, we look up. We did it once before, and it’s time to do it again.

--Phil Plait

[Lest you think my history nerdity centered only around Revolutionary War-era activities, may I remind you that a) I own shuttle earrings and b) the front license plate of my car reads "Alabama, First to the Moon*."]

*Wernher von Braun was fond of saying, "Anything sent into space should have a tag on it saying ‘Made in Alabama by the people of Alabama.’"

One giant leap for mankind.

I don't know whom I'm more jealous of.