President Obama meets privately with Apollo 11 crew

In a special recognition for the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, President Obama celebrated with the surviving crew members of the NASA mission that put the first human steps on the moon.

President Obama spoke privately in the oval office with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and Carol Armstrong, who was wife of the late Neil Armstrong.

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Nixon called July 20, 1969 — the day Aldrin and Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo 11 lunar module and onto the moon — the “proudest day of our lives.”

“For one priceless moment in the whole history of man all the people on this Earth are truly one — one in their pride in what you have done and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth,” Nixon said during his satellite conversation with Armstrong.

Four months later — following a 21-day quarantine procedure designed to shield Earth from possible lunar pathogens and a 24-country “good will tour” meant to demonstrate the United States’ willingness to share its lunar expertise — the Apollo 11 team visited the president at the White House.

Since then, the astronauts have met with Presidents Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush — and now Obama.

Aldrin and Michael Collins (who remained in the orbiter during the moon walk) — along with Neil Armstrong’s wife, Carol, and current NASA administrator Charles Bolden — returned to the White House on Tuesday to celebrate the 45th anniversary of their moon landing.

It’s not known what the group discussed.

Before his death, Armstrong lambasted Obama for cancelling NASA’s moon return project “Constellation,” calling the U.S. spaceflight program “lamentably embarrassing and unacceptable.”

“A lead, however earnestly and expensively won, once lost, is nearly impossible to regain,” the astronaut told Congress.

Agencies/Canadajournal