"I should imagine that you, like a lot of other people, have seen film footage of the Apollo space mission, you know, that time when man first walked on the moon....

Now for countless others, including myself, that moment where you saw that huge rocket being blasted into space was, and always remains, a truly special moment.

And whilst nowadays we look back at that time with a certain thrill, I often imagine just what it must have been like for those involved in such a mission... no doubt at the time, there were an awful lot of uncertain people.... wishing that the mission would go well, but privately a little unsure, if such a thing would actually get off the ground.

And doesn't that just go to show how dreams and ambitions can actually be realized... with the correct amount of effort and dedication?

But did you ever stop to think.... that the hardest thing about any space mission, is in getting any rocket free of the earth in the first place?.

I mean... here you have this huge rocket, with massive fuel tanks either side, yet the actual capsule holding the astronauts, is less than a fifth of the total size of that rocket.

Incredible really, that so much energy is needed to shift a relatively small capsule, and I never realized until then that gravity can really be so strong.

Now I'm sure that everyone has an appreciation of this....universal force..., but I wonder if anyone... really thinks beyond the force off gravity.

Because once that rocket had reached a certain height, and had finally broken free of gravity, it jettisoned the huge fuel tanks, and began hurtling along on its journey to the moon. With nothing to hold it back, its destination just kept getting nearer and nearer...

And when we all watched the Apollo landing craft... touching down on the moon, you could see these little tiny bursts of its rockets, firing for just a few seconds at a time, slowing its decent to a whisper soft landing.

And even when it finally took off from the moon, so little effort was needed.... to come all the way home, all the way back..... to terra firma.

And then I get to thinking, that lots of people, have lots of tough things to achieve in life, and its probably only those that keep pushing, keep maintaining personal force, that manage to.... break through all kinds of personal barriers in life

And I always.... keep the 'Apollo' in mind...when thinking of new challenges ..

Ed.