This week marks the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing of Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to land humans on the moon. Eight years after President John F. Kennedy’s call for Americans to go to the moon and come back, Apollo 11—the fifth manned mission of NASA’s Apollo program—was launched from Kennedy Space Center. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module “Eagle” at 20:18 UTC. The video broadcast of the two astronauts became the first TV transmission to Earth from the moon. An estimated 530 million people watched the video images of Neil Armstrong walking on the lunar surface. It was during this broadcast that Armstrong said his famous words, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” thus ushering in a new era for space exploration.

Yesterday, bipartisan legislation was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives that, if passed, would defend U.S. trade deals, promote fair competition for U.S. airlines, and protect the jobs of airline pilots and other airline workers in the United States.

Independence Day is a time for the nation to celebrate freedom and reflect on American values. And this Fourth of July, as a record number of individuals will be flying our red, white, and blue skies, we continue our work to protect American aviation jobs—and you can help. 

It’s that time of the year—the beginning of summer marks the start of the busiest season for airline pilots. According to Airlines for America, a record 257 million passengers will fly to vacation destinations all around the world this summer, which is a 3.4 percent increase from the all-time record set last year.

On June 5, nearly 200 ALPA members from 38 states conducted hundreds of meetings with members of Congress to press these decision makers to support pilot-partisan issues. This boots-on-the-ground effort known as “Hill Day” wrapped up ALPA’s seventh annual Legislative Summit on Capitol Hill.