In my opinion which means absolutely nothing, witnessing something historical does not involve actually being there but being alive when it happened. I wasn't alive when the Hindenburg blew or when we bombed Hiroshima and those events are certainly historic. Had I been alive when the worlds loudest noise, Krakatoa happened, I would call that number 1. I watched the shuttle Challenger explode moments after liftoff. I stand by my assertion that nothing humans have ever done tops Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon and returning to earth after doing so. I read Andy Weir's book' the Martian and watched the movie. Imagine the math involved in mounting an ascent vehicle and docking with an orbiting spacecraft. Just freaking amazing.
great examples Tink
If interested one can google "10 Biggest Events in Human History" and the Reformation, printing press, lives and religions of Jesus and Muhammad, the World Wars, etc, start turning up. ALL big stuff, many of us were obviously NOT alive to see happen, but we can trace lines of influence from those events to the present that affect us ALL, profoundly, this second.
We can thank Isaac Newton for the mathematics of gravitation and planetary motion that allowed a moon landing 300 years later. Newton said (paraphrasing), when he was being lauded for his achievements, "if I could see further, its because I stood on the shoulders of giants". A humble acknowledgement of the contributions of others before him, and a clear prediction of how progress would occur in subsequent generations.
Something I am looking forward to is the launch of the James Webb telescope. Documentary recently about it, but I have been following it since it was announced several years ago though.
To me, its a bit like the anticipation of run up to the moon landing. We aren't physically putting the flag on a celestial body, but our technology is gonna take us to the beginning of time in the clearest way ever.
My prediction: What this thing can do -- and what we might learn - could change EVERYTHING. We are probably going to be able to really see new planets, check for signs of life as we know it ON such places. TONS of other stuff.
I will save the nerdy hyperbole that makes me giddy as a teenage girl at a Taylor Swift concert, but anyone interested in cosmic science might wanna check it out.
James Webb Space Telescope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia