Neil Armstrong died today. A man who didn’t seek out the hero’s mantle, and surely didn’t cash it in as some have.

I grew up to be quite a space nut – and not just because my father, an engineer who worked for Boeing, actually got to work on the space program. It was just … the promise of the future and all that entailed.

I built a LEM (lunar lander) from a cutout cardboard sheet, more tape than paper when I was done. I built a Saturn 5 from a plastic kit of pieces, probably more glue than plastic when I was done (never was much for hand-eye coordination). In junior high, we did rockets, and my awfully painted lil red one must have flown, I suppose. I don’t remember it that much.

We — my father Paul, stepmother Jeannie, and two older brothers Pete and Rick (well he was…