Created: 7/20/2009 4:32:39 PM 
Columbia (WLTX) - On the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon, the historic mission continues to capture the hearts and minds of many Americans.
A local educator has dedicated his life to inspiring others to keep space exploration alive.
"That's one small step for man, one giant step for mankind." Those words were spoken by Neil Armstrong forty years ago and encouraged a nation.
The words also inspired USC professor Dan Overcash to pursue a lifelong commitment to the sciences. "I remember sitting in my den listening, excited to find out,"says Overcash.
Overcash was a 27 year-old on that day in July 1969 when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon changing the future of the space program.
As a child Overcash built a telescope to observe the moon. And he believed that one day man would walk on its surface.
"I was seven years old camping one night in my tent looking at the stars through a hole in the tent. I wondered how deep the moon dust was,"says Overcash.
A curiosity that inspired him into adulthood. "I was interested in completing my degree so I can teach in college,"says Overcash.
Now after 40 years of teaching astronomy and physics, Overcash continues to dream big. And he believes that man will once again walk on the moon.
"We may even sometime put a big telescope on the moon and send moon shuttle trips for pieces of the mirror to put the mirror together on the moon,"says Overcash.
Overcash teaches at USC's Melton Observatory.
