As I stepped on the moon, I looked around, dazed...magnifice nt. The vast, sandy silver surface was almost illusory.

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.

There are two of them up here.

I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer.

Yeah, I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role. That wasn't planned by anyone.

Now and then I miss the excitement about being in the cockpit of an airplane and doing new things.

NASA has been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve. It's sad that we are turning the programme in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation and stimulation it provides to young people.