NOTEBOOK

We have never really come to terms with what we saw on that summer night twenty-five years ago, or with the events that followed. In large measure, it is because we never really understood what had happened. TV showed us what the astronauts did on the moon, but could not transmit the immensity of the venture. The astronauts knew this, and when they returned to earth, they struggled to describe their experiences. But astronauts are not communicators, and with rare exceptions, their words could not bridge the gap between the high-tech realm of space-flight and everyday experience. The real impact of Apollo - the experiences of the first men to visit another world - remained, like the moon itself, beyond our grasp.

Andrew Chaikin, A Man on the Moon.