On this day, July 20, 1969, man first landed on the moon. The Apollo 11 Moon Mission, commanded by Neil Armstrong and backed up by Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins successfully made the historic journey to the lunar surface and back, forever going down in history as the first human beings to stand upon another world and look upon the earth as a distant planetary sphere in the sky.
It is, perhaps, something of a cliché to harp on about the Apollo 11 mission, even though it is, arguably, the most important historical event of the 20th Century. But I do so, at the risk of trivializing the event, for another reason—possibly a little more self-serving. Because while July 20, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, it also comes very close to marking the first anniversary of the launch of Horizon Cybermedia, Inc. and the website http://www.explorationtheseries.com. Actually, the website was launched on July 29, 2008. I remember pretty well what I was doing on this day, a year ago—I had probably just completed editing the first film of my Exploration series and was probably recording the soundtrack at the time.
But the parallels don't end there!
Again, I say this at the risk of trivializing a tremendously important historical event and incurring the wrath of the astronauts of the mission, so I hope they won't be offended when I note that I say this in a lighter vein.
First of all, the Apollo Mission and the moon landing were originally inspired by a speech given by President John F. Kennedy to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961:
"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
Similarly, Horizon Cybermedia was also, in part, inspired by another quote from John F. Kennedy, namely:
"We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth."
Secondly, just as the Apollo 11 moon mission was conceived as a humanitarian mission with a message of peace to all nations, to the backdrop of the disastrous Vietnam War, similarly, Horizon Cybermedia was also launched with a humanitarian mission and a message of peace and world exploration to all nations, to the backdrop of the catastrophic wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thirdly, as the moon mission represents the pinnacle of the Homeric spirit of exploration and adventure from the Odyssey, so also Horizon Cybermedia is, in many ways, inspired by the Homeric tradition of the Odyssey. In fact, in some respects, I believe that Horizon Cybermedia comes closer to the true Homeric spirit of the Odyssey, because while the Apollo 11 mission was a massive, state-funded (through NASA), public sector enterprise in space exploration, Horizon Cybermedia, on the other hand, is a small, private sector enterprise in terrestrial exploration and independent film-making. However, our status as a small, independent film producer gives us an edge because we are able to remain true to our independent vision.
Finally, the Apollo 11 moon mission, while being a landmark in so many other ways, was also a landmark in film-making history with the first video footage actually filmed on the surface of the moon (which is pretty amazing if you really think about it). So also, Horizon Cybermedia hopes, in all humility, that 40 years from now, we will also be considered something of a landmark in film-making history! Who knows, maybe some day, we will film an episode of our Exploration series on the surface of the moon! In fact, you never know, that day may well arrive sooner than we expect!
Anyway, having exhausted my resources with my admittedly somewhat shameless attempts at self-promotion, I now turn to the main event of the hour: the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon!
My heartfelt congratulations to astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on this anniversary of their history-making, ground-breaking lunar expedition and the message of universal peace and hope it brings to all of mankind!
Best wishes from Horizon Cybermedia, Inc. and http://www.explorationtheseries.com!
Wishing you the very best,
Uday Gunjikar,
Founder and CEO,
Horizon Cybermedia, Inc.
