One more thing, about Neil Armstrong.
A private service is planned in Cincinnati Friday for the Ohio native who was the first man on the moon and the president has asked that flags fly at half staff.
Even though his historic 1969 mission was compared to the maiden new world voyage of Christopher Columbus, I never understood why July 20th never became a memorable date.
I'm surprised every year when the day comes and goes with no mention of Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind.
This weekend, when I heard the news about his death I didn't think about watching the ghostly images of his first steps live from the moon. And when I heard him described as a modest, reluctant hero, and a private man of few words, I didn't flashback to any of those famous images from Apollo 11.
What it all made me remember was the day back in 1982 when I was putting together a "where are they now" TV special.
At the time, Neil Armstrong had been out of the public eye for about a dozen years so I thought he'd be a great subject for the show. We tracked him down at the University of Cincinnati where he was teaching aerospace engineering and got his phone number, and called.
I explained how we wanted to update people on his life and told him our viewers would be curious to find out what he'd been doing lately, and we might ask a couple of questions about the space program then and now. There was a long pause at the other end of the line, and finally he said, "Now, why would I want to do that?"
I didn't really have a good answer, and so ended my encounter with the first man on the moon.
I never thought I'd remember him that way, and I don't really want to, but I just can't help it.
