Tom Feeney: “Mr. Speaker, today's Florida Today editorial started out by saying this: "On July 20, 1969, humanity changed forever.…”

“Mr. Speaker, today's Florida Today editorial started out by saying this: "On July 20, 1969, humanity changed forever. The moment the boot of astronaut Neil Armstrong touched the surface of the Moon, the future of humanity no longer was tethered to Planet Earth." And, indeed, 35 years ago a mesmerized Nation and a mesmerized world watched as Americans landed on the moon. Today we celebrate that accomplishment. Looking back at the history of the Cape, the human space flight program began in June, 1959, when a Mercury boilerplate capsule was brought down for a test flight called Big Joe, when NASA needed tools at that time, they went to Sears Roebuck in Orlando. They used a flatbed truck, a wooden cradle, and mattresses to transport the Mercury capsule to the launch pad. Just a few years later, Saturn V rockets, the largest rocket ever built, were assembled in the Vehicle Assembly Building, the second largest building in the world, and transported 3 miles by the Crawler Transporter, then the largest tracked vehicle in the world. Thousands of men and women viewed Apollo as a calling and not just a career.”