This weekend marks the 50 anniversary that America first stepped foot on the moon, and News 12’s resident space geek Tara Rosenblum united with fellow space fans to reflect on the monumental achievement.

Millions of people still remember when the Apollo 11 astronauts took one giant leap for mankind.  Perhaps it’s because there has yet to be one single event that captured the imagination of the world quite like the moon landing.

The internet is abound with mementos that mark the 50-year milestone, including commemorative coins to T-shirts to lunar sneakers. Then there are the space geeks, including News 12’s Tara Rosenblum, who are already reminiscing and marveling at one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments.

The Hudson River Museum recently opened its doors to News 12 for a private showing of its lunar landing exhibit. It took 400,000 engineers, 120,000 contracts and dozens of fearless astronauts to get the job done. Of the 24 Apollo astronauts who went to the moon, 12 are alive today.  Basil Hero interviewed nine of them at length for his newly released book, “The Mission of a Lifetime.” He described them all as incredibly down-to-earth.

The question now is who or what will bring the next generation their own awe-inspiring mission? Regardless of what it is, this milestone anniversary – as one Apollo alumni recently pointed out – is a powerful reminder that as Americans, if we come together and work together, we can do incredible things.