At the #NASAtweetup for the Last Shuttle Launch

I originally posted this article at Scientific American on July 13, 2011.

The above Pecha Kucha talk was presented at the Staerkel Planetarium in November 2011.

Imagine a dark haired little girl of not quite four years old, playing outside in a cotton dress in the warm dusk of July 30, 1969, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

GeriJoNM

Me and my little sister, Geri, in New Mexico, where I recall being called in to witness man’s first steps on the moon. Photo: Joanne Manaster

More