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Something sublime in the timing of this...

"Neil Armstrong is on the moon," Cronkite said calmly. A "38-year-old American, standing on the surface of the moon."

When the astronauts returned safely to Earth, Cronkite had prepared comments:

"Through all time, the moon has endured out there, pale and distant, determining the tides and the tugging of the heart. A symbol, a beacon, a goal. Now, man has prevailed."

"The least of us," he concluded, "is improved by the things done by the best of us."


Well said, Walter. Well said. We'll miss you.


Former CBS anchor 'Uncle Walter' Cronkite dies at 92:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/17/walter ... index.html

My favorite memory of Cronkite's Apollo 11 coverage was when he simply couldn't constrain his joy and exclaimed "Hot dog!" with the enthusiasm of a child. It was a beautiful lapse of journalistic objectivity that pretty much summed up how a lot of us felt at that moment.

I hope he gets to pause on his way out and do a little skipping on the Moon.