We’ve Landed On The Moon!
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one that we intend to win.”
– John Fitzgerald Kennedy
The 40th Anniversary Of Apollo 11.
Today, for most of the world and indeed most Americans, will be a Monday like any other. People will go about their lives, worrying about the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and finding a way to pay for their kids’ college education. Little will they know that forty years ago today the world looked up at the moon with wonder. It was the first time that man had truly broken free of the shackles of earth. We had become and interplanetary species. It was the day that the future began. We had landed on the moon.
It had taken countless billions of dollars, dozens of rocket launches, and had cost the lives of three Americans. But in that one day in July of 1969, that effort came to fruition. We, humans, had landed on another celestial body. We had truly become explorers in the purest sense of the word. We had stepped where no one had ever stepped before. The possibilities seemed endless.
It marked the culmination of more than ten years of work, beginning with Project Mercury. Those brave souls who volunteered for such hazardous work were the intrepid explorers of the 20th century, embodying the essence of what Tom Wolfe described as “the right stuff.” Then came Project Gemini, with record-setting spaceflight durations, the first rendezvous between multiple spacecraft traveling at literally tens of thousands of miles per hour, and the first ventures by humans outside of their protective capsules.
Project Apollo began with all of the optimism of humanity. While it promised to deliver men on the moon before the end of the 1960s, it began in tragedy. Rookie astronaut Roger Chafee was assigned to Apollo 1 with a pair of NASA royalty: Ed White was the first American to walk in space and Gus Grissom was one of the original Mercury 7, the second American to fly in space, and was everyone’s favorite to be the first man to land on the moon. All three crewmembers of Apollo 1 died in a training accident in 1967. It very nearly ended not only the Apollo program but also NASA.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and Project Apollo was completely gutted and redesigned from the ground up. New and improved safety measures were implemented, but still, the hazards of lunar spaceflight were both numerous and significant. In December of 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned mission to leave Earth orbit for deep space. Jim Lovell (of Apollo 13 fame), Frank Borman, and Bill Anders became the first humans to orbit the moon, completing ten orbits before returning safely to Earth. Every subsequent mission of Project Apollo was fraught with danger, yet each one was absolutely vital for any lunar landing. Finally, after the “dress rehearsal” of Apollo 10, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Mission Commander Neil Armstrong were selected to be the first crew to attempt a manned lunar landing.
Contrary to popular belief, Armstrong and Aldrin didn’t “just land on the moon”. Their mission was riddled with computer malfunctions, fuel shortages, and hazardous terrain that almost forced an abort or even worse, a crash landing. One little known fact is that Armstrong and Aldrin were frantically searching for a suitable landing spot and landed their craft under duress with less than 17 seconds of fuel remaining. But they did indeed land safely and the rest is history.
Only five other missions–totaling ten more men–successfully landed on the moon after Apollo 11. The moonwalkers of Project Apollo won’t be with us much longer: three of them have already passed away and the remaining nine are rapidly approaching their 80s. Yet Armstrong and Aldrin hold a special place; they were the first. They truly ventured beyond the limits, beyond any safety net, beyond our own planet. While many men volunteered, they were the ones chosen to lead this quest, and their achievements will be remembered for the rest of human history.
“My fair cousin, if we are mark’d to die, we are honored by our country in its tragic loss. And if we live, the fewer men, the greater the share of honor. God’s will I pray thee, not one more man. For I am not covetous for gold, nor care I for material flourishments. But if it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. He that outlives this day and comes home safe shall stand a tip-toe above all others. Old men forget, yet all shall be forgot, yet he’ll remember, with advantages, what feats he did this day. This story shall the good man teach his son, and forever in their flowing cups it shall be remembered, from this day until the ending of the world.”
– William Shakespeare
