How many remember this?
Very early on in the life of this Blog, indeed on the second day, I wrote a short article about the NASA mission to the moon, some 40 years after the event. You see, for me that has been the historic event of my lifetime.
I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.
That speech before Congress by President Kennedy was on the 25th May, 1961. I was 16 and was enthralled by the idea of being alive when man first set foot on another planetary body. That came about on July 20th, 1969 at which time I was living and working in Sydney, Australia. I took three days off work, rented a TV and watched every minute of the event.
Exploration is a core need of man. By pushing out the boundaries of our knowledge we continue to offer hope to mankind.
So it is with great disappointment that it has been announced by President Obama that the manned mission programs to the moon are to be severely curtailed – that sounds terribly like political speak for cancelled!
As Eugene Cernan (last astronaut to set foot on the moon) said:
I’m quite disappointed that I’m still the last man on the Moon. I thought we’d have gone back long before now.
I think America has a responsibility to maintain its leadership in technology and its moral leadership… to seek knowledge. Curiosity’s the essence of human existence.
Curiosity is indeed the essence of human existence.
That curiosity and the investment in space exploration by NASA on behalf of the whole world has shown us some remarkable findings about Saturn and it’s majestic rings. Just watch the video segments in this piece from the BBC.
The one-time cost of Cassini-Huygens mission was $3.26 billion. Just 0.3% of the cost of one year’s expenditure on U.S. defense spending.
Science missions like Cassini enhance cooperation between nations, and greatly contribute to scientific progress which benefits everyone.
Perhaps the big Banks would like to pick up the cost of further manned missions to the Moon?
By Paul Handover
Learning from Dogs 
Great post, Paul!
Recently, for World Book Day, each of the pupils at my five year old son’s school was asked to select a non-fictional person and to learn some information about, and to dress as, that person for the day.
He chose Neil Armstrong (as it happens, so had three other boys in the school). We watched interviews with Neil Armstrong; I equipped him with some information about the moon landings; and we helped him by assembling an outfit, which was a challenge at short notice!
I also attempted to arrange for the two of us to see (and possibly meet) Neil Armstrong (now aged 79) who, with Gene Cernan and Jim Lovell, was in London, UK, not long after that. The only information that we had was that they were taking part in an event at the Royal Society, London on Friday March 12th; this turned out to be a private event, and I failed in my mission to obtain tickets. Subsequently, reports of ex-astronauts expressions of disappointment at the news about the manned missions to the moon, emanated from London; this indicated that they were, at least, here.
The continuation of space exploration is clearly a very important activity for mankind. So, it is major disappointment that not only is the US space shuttle being retired without an equivalent replacement, but also that the US manned space program, as a whole, is being curtailed.
Nevertheless, today we have an incredible range of technological capabilities compared with the times when the manned space programs were designed. Consequently, for a given budget, it is possible to learn far more information using unmanned vehicles than using manned ones. This is particular true for missions of greater distances, not least because it removes the requirement, in the words of President Kennedy, of “returning him safely to the Earth”.
On the other hand, one of the facts that my young son learnt was that twelve people have walked on the moon; they and many other astronauts would probably have agreed that: “you had to be there!”
John
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