It is so hard for me to believe that this is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

I was 13 years old but it just seems like yesterday. It was the culmination and fulfillment of a challenge made by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 after Alan Shepard completed the first American manned mission into space.

JFK challenged the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to send Americans to the moon by 1970. This was one heck of a goal. In fact, at the time he served up his challenge we hadn't even put a man in orbit around the Earth. John Glenn wouldn't do that for almost another year.

To be sure, the goal of getting men to the moon in the 1960s was for scientific exploration, but a great part of the motivation was political and military. We had to make sure an American flag was planted on the moon instead of the red hammer and sickle of the communist Soviet Union.

After all, they embarrassed the U.S. by getting the first satellite into space, Sputnik, in 1957. Then they really rubbed it in when they got the first man into space and in Earth orbit in 1961. It was imperative that America catch up and exceed the Soviets in space.

The race to the moon probably wouldn't have happened as it did, though, without German scientists left over from the World War II era. They were at the leading edge of rocket development, and both the Soviet Union and the U.S. had them in fold.

The V2 rockets were developed by the Germans and were constantly hitting Great Briton and other European allied targets during WWll. The V2 was developed by Dr. Werner Von Braun, who eventually ended up on the American side with NASA.

In fact it was Von Braun who designed the Saturn V rockets that launched Apollo astronauts to the moon.

Developing rockets for manned space flight, though, was actually secondary for the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The main mission was to develop missiles to transport nuclear weapons halfway across the world.

Despite the fact that lunar landing missions were born more out of politics than science, at least in my opinion, it was truly an exiting time.

In less than 75 years we went from flying the first airplanes to landing on the moon. As a kid I was really, really caught in the manned spacecraft program in the 1960s. In fact, Don Falen, my next-door neighbor and one my best buddies, helped me build a space capsule out of plywood in my backyard. We even went on pretend missions into space.

I remember the night in July 1969 before the Apollo 11 moon mission took off. I was so excited I stayed up all night before the launch. That almost proved to be a big mistake. I almost missed the launch, but somehow I woke up at 15 minutes before the launch and caught Walter Cronkite's call of it on CBS TV.

As the Apollo 11 crew raced to the moon in its three-day journey, I journeyed to CYC summer camp near McGregor, Minn., for 10 days. I almost canceled the trip because I was afraid I'd miss the TV coverage. I had my Dad call the camp to make sure all the campers would experience this history. They promised that they would.

The rules of the camp prohibited transistor radios, but I smuggled one in anyway and the first night I was there I crouched deep into my sleeping bag and listened to any news I could about Apollo 11 with one of those old fashioned earphones stuck in my ear. I never got busted.

Then Sunday, July 20, 1969, arrived, the day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin climbed into the lunar module lander and left Mike Collins in the command module to continue orbiting the moon awaiting the moon landers safe return.

I remember the head camp councilor, Louie Grams, making the announcement over the camp loudspeakers that we were invited to the main lodge to watch the coverage of the moon landing.

I was surprised that only about half of my fellow campers came. We were glued to that little black and white TV as Walter Cronkite proclaimed about 3:20 in the afternoon, "Man on the Moon!"

Shortly after that happened, we were shooed away from the TV. I just wasn't going to settle for that.

I knocked on the door of the councilors' lodge and short of pounding fists on the walls I insisted that I get to see more of the coverage. They didn't want a scene, so I got a little quality time watching.

I wasn't through though, because that night Neil Armstrong was to set foot on the moon around midnight local time. Lights out for the campers was at 10:30 p.m.

I was prepared to listen to the coverage on my transistor radio in my sleeping bag, but by 11 p.m. I couldn't stand it any more.

I sneaked out of the tent and once again pounded on the door of the councilor's lounge, where they were crowded around that same black and white TV.

Once again I got my way and watched that historic moment when Neil Armstrong proclaimed, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Those ghostly images of Neil Armstrong hopping around on the moon with Buzz Aldrin are burned in my memory forever.

I'm not so sure that it's all that beneficial for men and woman to walk around the moon again.

Robotic spacecraft can do a wonderful job exploring the moon a heck of lot cheaper than sending people there. Not only that, but it's really dangerous for humans to be out deep in space away from the protective magnetic fields of the Earth for extended periods because they are so vulnerable to cosmic rays and solar storm radiation.

In fact, back in 1972 the Apollo 17 astronauts just missed being hit by lethal solar radiation.

Presently, there isn't a way to protect humans from this, but hopefully there will be someday. Until then, I don't think it's worth the risk.

This makes me even more impressed with the courage of the Apollo 11 astronauts and the astronauts on all the other moon missions who boldly went to and walked on a place where no human had ever been to.

Keep that in mind the next time you gaze upon the moon.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.