Reising family’s love of Neil Armstrong takes them to Washington, D.C.
America lost a national treasure last month when Neil Armstrong died at the age of 82. On Sept. 13, approximately 2,000 people came to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. to remember Armstrong. Among the crowd paying their respects to the first astronaut to set foot on the moon was the Reising family of Noblesville.
“You don’t use words – it was amazing,” said Jeff Reising, who attended the National Celebration of Life ceremony for Armstrong with his wife, Melissa, and son, Zack.
Jeff receives daily emails from NASA websites. On Sept. 2 he received an email saying there would be a limited number of public seating available to the event.
“When Melissa and I were talking I said wouldn’t it be cool if we got these tickets,” he said. “We never thought we would, but the very next day I had an email back saying they look forward to seeing us. We were dumbfounded.”
The Reisings said the entire ceremony was special, but particularly enjoyed Jazz singer Diana Krall’s version of “Fly Me to the Moon.” Zack said he liked Cpt. Eugene A. Cernan’s story about Armstrong’s Apollo 11 landing. Armstrong only had 15 seconds of fuel remaining when he landed and when asked about it, Armstrong paused and responded, “When the gauge says empty, we all know there’s a gallon or two left in the tank.”
“The entire crowd laughed,” said Zack, who turns 13 Saturday.
The ceremony’s guests included astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Jim Lovell.
“It was unrealistic, unimaginable to be in the same room with the people who risked their lives going to the moon. They were heroes,” said Melissa. “I’m so grateful my husband started the ball rolling. It was an achievement my son was able to experience. He can’t walk like you and I do, but when he’s up in the air he’s as free as a bird and can go as fast as he wants.”
Jeff described the ceremony as a “high speed time capsule” of his life.
“First and foremost, it was an opportunity of a lifetime or Zack,” he said. “It was kind of the beginning of it all – sitting there reliving all these things as a kid to the space program now.”
After the ceremony, Jeff saw Cernan heading to the underground parking garage and asked the last man to walk on the moon if he would take a photo with Zack.
“That was over the top. . . He made a special effort to come over,” said Jeff. “It was very cool for me – I shook the hand of the first man on the moon and got to shake the hand of the last man on the moon. It was a neat moment.”
Experiencing historic aerospace moments is a tradition for the Reising family. For the final NASA shuttle launch, they went to watch it firsthand.
“We didn’t have tickets for on site on the cape, but we got tickets for a ferry six miles away on the water,” Zack said.
Jeff’s love for NASA and the U.S. space program began at a young age. When Armstrong made history in 1969, Jeff remembers watching the historic event on a television.
“I’ve always been a big space nut,” he said.
Zack’s love for Armstrong also came at a young age. He attended a board meeting of Phi Delta Theta with his father, who is an alumnus and a board member of fraternity where Armstrong lived while at Purdue University.
“I was fully 100 percent into it because of that board meeting,” said Zack. “I think my dad started to talk about him when I was six or seven. Right then and there I knew because I idolized him.”
Zack reveres Armstrong and the accomplishments he had and uses Armstrong as a motivator for the difficulties he has with Cerebral Palsy. Zack said what he likes best about Armstrong is how modest and humble he was.
“He inspired people the way I inspire people by gutting through my Cerebral Palsy,” he said.
Of all of Armstrong’s accomplishments, Zack has his eyes on two – earning his pilot’s license before he drives and achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.
“I’m flying with my dad and want to do what Neil did – be an Eagle Scout, go to Purdue, major in aeronautical engineering, join my dad’s fraternity.”
Two months ago Zack took his beginning steps in achieving his pilot’s lesson by getting his first flying lesson. Zack said he enjoys “touching the controls and learning to fly.”
“It feels good to fly with my dad and flight instructor,” he said.
