I was 14 years old in July 1969, living 95 miles from Wapakoneta, Ohio, hometown of Neil Armstrong and my grandfather. My grandfather's siblings still lived there at the time. My father was 12 years older than Neil, and he had met him over the years. Neil had worked for my great aunt in her corner store - and that's recorded in James R. Hansen's biography, "First Man." My dad set up the Polaroid camera in front of our black and white TV hoping to catch the moment when the first step occurred. I don't know if he was successful. That moment watching Neil step onto a faraway celestial body instilled a love of space in me. I was a candidate for journalist in space in the 1980s before the Challenger accident, and I had the honor to be on the UA's Phoenix Mars Mission team. I met Buzz Aldrin at the Paris Air Show in 2005 but didn't mention my connection to his fellow space traveler.
Sara Hammond
Historic bank vault now new Tucson speakeasy
