Ground control to Major Tom...

Monday marked the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. My digital video recorder (DVR) has many hours of spaceflight history that I am slowly working my way through.

The first step in curing an addiction is admitting the problem.

My name is Tom, and I wanted to be an astronaut.

I openly admit it, I gave in to peer pressure. But it wasn't my fault. As a child, nearly everywhere you turned, there were subtle messages that you should want to be an astronaut.

Even the innoucous "School Days" book, where you kept your report cards, class photos as well as charting new friends, was in on the scheme. Up until high school, there was a place where you could select your future career. Boys and girls each had six choices and one fill in the blank future career path to choose from.

The choices for boys were: fireman, policeman, cowboy, astronaut, soldier and baseball player. The exciting career choices for girls were: mother, nurse, school teacher, airline hostess, model and secretary.

Hey, it was the mid-60s. We had six choices, and lived with them. It could, however, explain why there are so many unemployed astronauts and cowboys today.

Looking back, I selected astronaut every year. What's not to love? You get a cool spacesuit, get to drink Tang, eat your meals from a tube of toothpaste and float around all day.

Yes, I bought the government propoganda: hook, line and sinker.

I was eight years old on July 20, 1969. I can recall my best friend's uncle asking me if I was going to live on the moon. "Yes I am!" was my enthusiastic response.

Little did I know that the same government that had indoctrinated me to be one of the thousands of astronauts that would be needed would soon abandon the moon.

I had models of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecrafts. I knew the names of the Mercury 7: Shepard, Glenn, Grissom, Carpenter, Slayton, Cooper and Schirra. I had the Mercury capsule pencil sharpener, collected any NASA stuff that you could get with box tops -- I was on board.

But alas, it was not to be.

So when this week's anniversary came along, the memories came flooding back as well. Last year, the Discovery Channel aired a multi-part documentary of archival footage from NASA entitled "When We Left Earth." Watched all of it.

On Monday night, the History Channel aired numerous programs about the moon landing. Heck, Turner Classic Movies even aired space movies, co-hosted by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. They even ran "The Right Stuff," the film adaptation of Thomas Wolfe's novel about the early days of the space program.

I've come to the conclusion that this space mania is a baby boomer guy thing. I find the stuff fascinating because I was aware of some of it as a child, and knowing the rest of the story as an adult is very fulfilling.

I'm thankful I have a tolerant wife who sits through all of these things.

A few observations:

It is a crime that Chuck Yeager, the man who broke the sound barrier in 1947, was not considered to be an astronaut because he did not have a college degree. Yeager's West Virginia drawl and cool demeanor is still imitated by pilots of all types.

Gene Kranz, who served as Flight Director at Mission Control, should be the official ambassador or spokesman for NASA. Kranz is probably remembered best for the quote "failure is not an option," regarding the Apollo 13 mission. Kranz never uttered the phrase, it was written by screenwriters for the movie. Kranz did say "We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch!"

We didn't.

It remains to be seen whether we will return to the moon, and then on to Mars. The Constellation project, which is intended to return Americans to the moon by 2020, is over budget and mired in finger-pointing. Perhaps a new space race -- with the Chinese as our competitors -- will be needed to get us on the same page.

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.