Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for July 20, 2017
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
July 20, 2017: Forty-eight years ago today, the late Neil Armstrong took “one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong became the first of a dozen men to walk on the moon’s surface, followed later that day by Buzz Aldrin.
Over the next three-and-a-half years, 10 other men set foot on the moon: Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt.
For those who grew up watching the Apollo space program, it’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 45 years since Apollo 17 became the last lunar mission. Since that time, astronauts have been confined to earth orbits.
Seven months before Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in Apollo 11, Jim Lovell and his Apollo 8 crew became the first men to orbit the moon. Lovell made another trip to the lunar orbit during the aborted Apollo 13 mission, but he was never able to walk on the moon.
Aldrin has recently called for an effort to put man on Mars rather than return to the moon.[1]
While space exploration was once something only governments could underwrite, private companies now place satellites in orbit. Billionaire Jeff Bezos and others expect to send passengers into space in the near future.[2]
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- July 19, 2017 – 9 countries surpass the U.S. in government trust ranking
- July 18, 2017 – 2,173,000 Americans incarcerated
- July 17, 2017 – 8 Pivot Counties in Maine that voted twice for Barack Obama, then voted for Donald Trump
- July 14, 2017 – 33 states have enacted voter ID requirements
- July 13, 2017 – 49 hours of streaming video content watched in average OTT home in a month
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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