The Walker of the Moon
Stiaan Eksteen was different from the other boys in his village of Skeerpoort. His village was a quaint, tiny place in South Africa, nestled on the fringes of the Magaliesburg Mountains, known for its citrus farms and a serene rural life. But Stiaan was not appeased by the calmness and tranquility of Skeerpoort. Since childhood, he had his eyes trained towards the sky, angled at the silvery moon, thousands of miles away from his village.
He was born in a family of farmers but would be caught gazing at the night sky more often than helping his father with the farm work. Post dinner, he would fix his grandfather's antique telescope towards the moon and spend the whole night making a space atlas.
His passion was fed by stories of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first men to step on the moon, narrated by his grandfather before bedtime. These tales inspired him, and he decided to become an astronaut. His friends considered this a far-fetched dream for a village boy and often laughed off his ambitions. But Stiaan was not swayed.
His undying resolve and sheer dedication caught the attention of his school headmaster, Mr. Oosthuizen, who then introduced Stiaan to the world beyond his geography textbooks. He showed him research papers, documentaries, and all possible resources on astronomy and space exploration.
Post high school graduation, against his father's wish, Stiaan left for Johannesburg to study Astrophysics at the University of Witwatersrand. His professors admired his diligence, commitment, and his insatiable curiosity about the universe beyond earth. His passion for studying space fetched him a scholarship for a Ph.D. at Yale University. Here, against all odds and hardships, his dream of becoming an astronaut seemed closer.
On completing his Ph.D., Stiaan joined NASA as a junior space scientist. His thirst to know more, to explore deeper did not let him rest. While his peers were climbing ladders of success, he took a sabbatical in 2014 to begin his preparations for the astronaut candidacy program. Two years passed, filled with grueling training, relentless perseverance, and multiple rejections. But nothing could break him.
Finally, in 2016, his efforts paid off. He was selected in NASA's astronaut program. His dream of walking on the moon looked achievable. The village boy from Skeerpoort, who once was known more for dreaming than contributing to citrus production, was set to take a leap for mankind.
The launch day of Apollo-N arrived on a chilly morning of December 21, 2021, with Stiaan as the mission's pilot. As the rocket took off, his heart pounded with excitement and pride. He was going to the moon. He was going to make his Skeerpoort people proud, prove that even if they came from a tiny village, they, too, could touch the moon.
After the successful moon landing, as he set his foot on the lunar surface, his first words were, 'Greetings to all from Skeerpoort, a village on Earth.' These words echoed through every household in Skeerpoort. The boy who had gazed at the moon through an antique telescope was now the hero of his village and an inspiration to millions.
Against all odds, Stiaan Eksteen, the walker of the moon, truly personified 'from a tiny seed burst forth a mighty tree'. His tale will inspire generations of Skeerpoort and around the globe to dream big and reach for the stars.