“Five, four, three, two, one, zero … we have … liftoff on Apollo 11.”

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center into its historical moon landing. Four days later, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the lunar surface, marking the first steps by humans on a planetary body outside of Earth. Armstrong’s memorable statement “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” as he took his first step, staked America’s top position in the Space Race and leapfrogged the Soviets during the Cold War. It was a triumphant mark in human space exploration, a feat followed by later Apollo missions, landing 10 more astronauts on the lunar surface, further cementing America’s position as a global leader in space development.

On Saturday, we in Hawaii celebrated the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 with some of our own local events, such as the Family Spacefest at Windward Community College and the Moon Landing Anniversary Event at the Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.

We celebrated the moon landing not only for its historical significance but also for the Aloha State’s important roles in the Apollo program, having provided the astronauts with geology training on the Hawaii island, hosting a tracking station on Kauai that assisted crew reentry, and Oahu serving as a focal point of recovery for the returning astronauts in July 1969. With thousands of locals in attendance then, the Navy band struck up “The Impossible Dream” as USS Hornet pulled into Pearl Harbor, returning from its Apollo 11 capsule recovery mission. Hawaii was the first to welcome them home.

Today, there is renewed national interest in returning to the moon, building a permanent lunar base, and using it as a stepping stone to a more ambitious mission in sending crews to Mars. Hawaii continues its work to support human space endeavors, leveraging its unique advantages. Moon/Mars-like volcanic terrain allows ideal training landscape for scientists, astronauts and robotics.

Research on planetary blocks from volcanic basalt by PISCES, a state agency located in Hilo, may one day help with constructing a base on Mars. And various aerospace development efforts could help to emerge a high-tech industry cluster to enable innovative workforce development, grow STEM education, and pave a future for our keiki to have attractive high-paying careers in the state.

One of the fastest emerging industries in aerospace is the Unmanned Aerial/Aircraft Systems (UAS), widely known simply as drones. Drones cover broad spectrum of applications, such as disaster and environment monitoring and management, precision agriculture, and terrain mapping. Just last year, using drones enabled us to access remote and inaccessible areas to monitor lava movements and fissures on the island of Hawaii which contributed to precise planning, evacuations and rescues. Within the next decade, we will see an expansion of drone capabilities to delivering packages and providing airport shuttles and ambulatory services via autonomous air vehicles.

Hawaii will be at the forefront of an innovative drone technology hoping to revolutionize global communication coverage. From Lanai, HAPS Mobile will fly solar-powered, high-altitude drone capable of maintaining months of flight into the stratosphere and perform analysis of watershed conservation and agricultural development. Successful outcome of this project could mean Hawaii becoming the home to global communication hub and would provide continuous opportunities for locally educated and trained ground crew, engineers and pilots.

Reflecting on the weeklong events of Apollo 11 in 1969 — my only insights are through articles, films and photos — it captured the imagination to dream big and to achieve monumental goals. We need to rekindle those aspirations and work together as a community to create an innovative aerospace/technology ecosystem in Hawaii that includes early STEM education with robotics and coding, and post-secondary education with solid workforce development and internships.

It took 400,000 workers for the Apollo 11 moon landing to be successful. It inspired future generations of explorers like our very own astronauts, Ellison Onizuka and Lacy Veach. And it will take our collective efforts of everyone in Hawaii to create an economy that provides high-paying, high-tech job opportunities and inspire future generations to dream big.

Chung I. Chang is coordinator of the state Office of Aerospace Development in the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.