This first lunar landing was historic in that it was the first time that human beings had walked on any celestial body. Some might see it as a triumph of human effort. However, for at least one of the astronauts who participated in that first landing, it seems to have evoked thoughts of a power greater than that of humanity's. According to Richard Ostling at getreligion.org, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., one of the two astronauts in the lunar module, privately celebrated Communion after the landing (see here), using a small bit of bread and a tiny chalice of wine that he had brought with him. According to Ostling, Aldrin later stated that he thought there was no better way "to acknowledge the 'enormity' of the event 'than by giving thanks to God.'" Nor was Aldrin the only astronaut to turn his thoughts to God while in space. Several months earlier, on Christmas Eve, astronauts of the Apollo 8 mission (which orbited but did not land on the moon) had read from the first chapter of Genesis the account of God's creation of "the heavens and the earth."
Perhaps, as we commemorate this historic achievement, we too, like them, need to turn our thoughts to the One who created "the heavens and the earth." Indeed, we would do well to remember that "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1). Even the most amazing technologies created by mankind, such as the spacecraft that first landed on the moon, fall far short of His handiwork, which is displayed in the night sky.
Image of U.S. astronaut on the moon from metro.co.uk