1969 is almost forty years old. The moon is about 100 million times that ancient, but it's only for the last fifty years now that we've been aiming junk at it. History remembers 1969 with a special smile, and the media has been anticipating the anniversary with an impatient (if not unwelcome) gusto. Thirty-nine, forty - what's the difference? Turns out a lot can happen in a year.

1968 actually is forty years old. Back in 1968 the year wasn't going so well. People were dying, unnecessarily. Wars were being waged, senselessly. Wounds were allowed to fester. (OK, there came also a bunch of the better Star Trek episodes!) Out from all this, one good event concluded the year. With only a few days left Apollo 8 took a step boldly going where no man had gone before. For the first time in our species' history they achieved lunar orbit. In an enormous leap of technology and faith they reached out to soar and inspire what was to come. In their famous photograph the Earth shines as its tiny crew shares a vision of their blue marble set above the magnificent desolation of another world.

Before we ever set foot on the moon we felt its pull. This time though it wasn't tides from faraway but a looming solid surface nearby. For a moment our kind was united, watching the moon as never seen. Our dream was close enough to feel, literally. You can't compare how one observes the world before and after such a glimpse of heaven, it's an un-forgettable sight that can't be un-remembered. (If your eyes were kept closed throughout I suppose your option would be to argue about it ever happening!)

Have you ever read Milton, Captain? Do you recall his, "To the Ocean now I fly, And those happy climes that ly, Where day never shuts his eye, Up in the broad fields of the sky?" We finally made it to the sky fields then, and within a year (what's the difference?) humans had at long last touched our serene neighbor (to swipe a few rocks).

By this time next year God willing our planet will be healing. A new administration may opt for some fiscal fist-bumping with NASA. A new direction may be established by which we measure ourselves as we go, how we treat our neighbors and our homeworld. By this time next year we'll have enjoyed forty years, no longer thirty-nine, of looking beyond our yard. What a difference a year could make.