The moon was out, long before sundown, here in Colorado. I took my dog for a walk in an isolated field. When I absentmindedly turned around, during my walk, the moon was fully in view. I offered what most of us did: I silent tribute to the "man on the moon".

I don't know if Neil would approve of me "passing" on this tidbit, but here "goes"!!!! LOL! (This is for ALL the Apollo Astronauts!)

But one aspect of weightlessness was so unpleasant that even the thrill of exploration didn't make up for it. If this marvel of engineering called Apollo had one major design flaw, it was the 'Waste Management System,' perhaps the most euphemistic use of English ever recorded. For urine collection there was a hose with a condom-like fitting at one end which led, by way of a valve, to a vent on the side of the spacecraft. On paper at least, it seemed like a reasonable, if low-tech, way to handle urinating in zero g, assuming you got over your anxiety about connecting yor private parts to the vacuum of space. You roll on the condom, open the valve, and it all goes into the void where it freezes into droplets of ice that are iridescent in the sunlight. One astronaut answered the question "What's the most beautiful sight you ever saw in space?" with "Urine dump at sunset."

In reality, using the urine collector didn't work so well. For one thing, it could be painful. If you opened the valve too soon, some part of the mechanism was liable to poke into the end of your penis, which prevented you from urinating. And at that point, as if to confirm your worst fears, the suction began to pull you in. Now you were being jabbed and pulled at the same time, so you shut the valve, and as the mechanism resealed itself it caught a little piece of you in it. It took only one episode like that to convince you to never let it happen again. Next time you had a strategy: start flowing a split-second before you turn on the valve. But once you began to urinate the condom popped off and out came a flurry of little golden droplets at play in the wonderland, floating around and making your misfortune everybody's misfortune! And in no time at all the whole device reeked; it was an affront to the senses just sitting there.

The astronauts got used to the urine collector, though, and they got used to mopping up afterwards. But there was no getting used to the other part of the Waste Management System. Tucked away in a strange locker was a supply of special plastic bags, each of which resembled a top hat with an adhesive coating on the brim. Each bag had a finger-shaped pocket built into the side of it. When the call came you had to flypaper this thing to your rear end, and then you were supposed to reach in there through the pocket with your finger---after all, nothing falls in zero gravity---and suddenly you were wishing you had never left home. And after you had it in the bag, so to speak, you had one last delightful task: break open a capsule of blue germicide, seal it up in the bag, and knead the contents to make sure they were fully mixed! At best, the operation was an ordeal. In the confined space of the Apollo command module, your crewmates suffered, too. One of the Apollo 7 astronauts said the smell was so bad it woke him out of a deep sleep. When the crew came back they wrote a memo about it: "Get naked, allow an hour, have plenty of tissues handy."

I'll wink at the moon and throw a nickle on the grass.

Roadkill, that is fascinating. Where did you learn about this? It has the ring of authenticity, no doubt.

Have these aspects of life at zero g been improved since the Apollo days?

Yes, Nungman, it Is authentic! You can learn about the modern systems (the ones aboard the shuttle) at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_toilet

A little better, I would say, than what the Apollo guys had. However, the shuttle sh!tter requires a bachelors degree to operate!

RIP armstrong since you certainly served honorably.

While I am a strong believer in human ability to achieve seemingly impossible things - one question is quite nagging me about moon landings. Here it goes - I would appreciate Alan Boyle or anybody who can answer with clarity!

The question is - moon has 1/6th gravity of earth. So the thrust required to throw a person in orbit on moon would be 1/6th or 1/36th at least compared to on earth. If you look at the NASA rockets - they are huge on earth and need massive complex infrastructure on ground to throw astronauts in the space. How come an astronaut came back from moon without at least 1/6th or 1/36th such force? Those lunar capsules/modules are so tiny.

PJ-1795048....In simple terms ( I am not a rocket scientist but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night ) , not only is the force of gravity much less, but the pull it exerts is for a much shorter time. Moon is much smaller than Earth and thus it is a much shorter distance to escape the pull of Lunar gravity and be in space. There is also very little or no atmosphere on Moon ( no air to have to fly through ) .

MM - I slept at home. Beats holiday inn - probably you would agree!

Yes moon is smaller and its gravity is 1/6th. Gravity creates force. So the force required to throw somebody in air would be 1/6th less. But if you have seen the rocket boosters at Cape Kennedy - they are HUGE. The lunar capsule is probably 1/100th of the size. So how could it lift 3 people crew from moon? The air drag is certainly absent. And as much as that helps... that also must have hurt when they tried to land since then they have to solely rely on their fuel to decelerate.

It adds more to the puzzle since now - we are talking about a single vehicle capable of landing and taking off. So yes ... I think we all should wink at the moon.

To paraphase an old song, we'll be looking at the moon, but we'll be seeing Neil.

I remember exactly where I was, when Neil took the "first step" on the moon. As a young girl, I observed the obvious excitement, on Walter Cronkite's face, as he gave the entire world, a scenario, of what was happening that day. Walter also walked us though Alan Sheppard's flight and John Glenn's and many, many others. He told us of the deaths of astronauts , who lost their lives, while searching for, the answers to outer space. It was a far more innocent time then. I was lucky to be a part of it. Even if one by television.

It seems, people are far more cynical now and a lot less caring about adventure and seeking knowledge. After Viet Nam, our citizens became more skeptical and fewer dreamers have surfaced. We are all about technology and far less likely to embrace the endeavors of others. Scandals are more prevalent now. Instead of looking for the good, we ruminate on innuendo and secrecy.

The truth be told, I would rather see my tax dollars, spent one space exploration, rather than wars. Or even better, helping the less fortunate and those in need. I long for the days of peace and safety but I fear they are gone forever. Innocence has died along with Neil.

Goodbye Neil, I will wink at the moon. Not just for you but, all of those who wanted, to know more. Thanks Neil.

R.I.P. Neil Armstrong. You are truely a hero in the eyes of the world. Thank you for being an inspiration to us all.

I guess I have never taken the time I should have to ponder the wonder, the amazement and the miracle of what this man (and his 'posse') accomplished. Now that I am now doing so, I was extremely disappointed that more of a tribute was not paid to him on this morning's TODAY Show. The lead was embedded and the small story a fleeting memory. The short montage of photos and music at the end of the program would have been (almost) your salvation. Louis Armstong's song was a great choice; just cut too short.

I have never been disappointed in my choice of morning news/entertainment viewing by selecting The TODAY Show, but today was the exception. In comparison, your coverage (in just one day) of Neil Armstrong (American Hero/World Hero/Explorer/Astronaut/Bravest Human Ever VS Music Phenomenon) versus the passing of, say, Michael Jackson, was an insult. I won't waste either of our time expounding.

Steve, & so many others submitting touching, emotional comments at this time: I couldn't have said it better myself. I also watched the moon landing in 1969, at the age of...never mind. Like everyone I am saddened at the loss of such greatness, but at the same time, I am enormously impressed with the outpouring of genuine affection for the man we rightly hold in such high esteem. Yes, Rest in Peace, Mr Armstrong, & I assure his family that I will henceforth wink at the moon & think of him. Thank you for the suggestion.

He has every reason to.

Diane, I am not too sure if it was indeed the free market forces at work that made this happen in 1969. While there were a tonne of innovative efforts, nationalistic zeal and fervour, the one thing that didn't quite contribute to this thing was the free market. While it certainly doesn't mean I am against free markets ( I am, in fact, a worshipper of truly "free" markets rather than the contrived / fake "free" one(s) ), I think intense competition with the communist Soviet Russia did play a role.

@Diane:

Well, except for Sputnik, the first manned space flight, the killing blow to the Nazi regime and the best damn caviar in the world plus a huge laundry list of other unrelated things.

It may be a good idea to know what it is that you hate, that you might understand why it is bad.

Diane-An idiotic statement to say the least. The effort to land a man on the moon was an act of triumphant collectivism. Tax money from millions of people, spent on bringing together tens of thousands of dedicated and hard working citizens directed by brilliant and imaginative people who all worked together to have two human beings walk on our Moon. Your political garbage is just that, garbage.

Theres a turd in every punch bowel :l

Going where no one has gone before is how we solve the real problems we have here on earth, not by going where we have already been. One small step is the beginning of a journey, one giant leap is the beginning of a great adventure, and the discoveries we make along the way will help solve many of the problems we have here on Earth.

Something I remember thinking when I was old enough to understand, is that he didn't say "one small step for a man, one giant leap for America!" he wasn't just an American hero, he was a hero for all of us.

"It is now time to turn our focus from the heavens and cast our eye back toward Earth. Earth is where we need to focus our efforts."

What exactly makes you think that no one is 'focusing their efforts' on the problems down here? Or spending similar amounts of money and effort on them? Civilizations can do more then one thing at a time. They could hardly be called a civilization, if they couldn't.

Is it just because it doesn't come with the inherent fanfare of a Saturn 5 launch? Even that took roughly eight years of development. Curing cancer, ending hunger, etc. won't be solved on one specific date like a Moon landing is done.

According to thespacereview.com. the total cost of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs was about $120 billion (adjusted to today’s dollars) over a ten year period. According to usgovernmentspending.com 2012 welfare spending will amount to $579 billion. So government welfare will consume more dollars in 75 days than were invested in ten years of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

I would submit that we are focused on earth quite enough, thank you very much.