You said it better than I could have, 'Spaw.

For many just a few years younger than am I (60) it might be hard to imagine how fantastic and astounding - astonishing- those first years of manned space flight were. First man in space, Yuri Gagarin, April 12, 1961 to first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, July 20, 1969, barely 8 years later.