One Small Step, 40 Years Later

On July 20, of this year we celebrate the 40^th anniversary of man's first steps on the moon. I was only two years old at the time, so I don't remember the event first-hand, but I have studied the Apollo missions throughout my education and I've always been fascinated by space travel.

Ohio native Neil Armstrong made history in 1969 as he stepped off the ladder of the Apollo 11 lunar module and became the first human being to set foot on an alien world. "That's one small step for man ... one, giant leap for mankind," Armstrong said, calmly.

Several months later, Apollo 12 Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. came down the ladder and said, somewhat less calmly, "Whoopie!" Conrad, who was the third man to set foot on the moon, flew two Gemini missions for NASA prior to his work on the Apollo project.

These men took the risks that made John F. Kennedy's dream of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960's a reality. It really sickens me that there are still wackos out there who even now believe that the whole thing was a hoax.

Thousands of people worked many years to develop the technologies required to safely launch a man some 250,000 miles into the void of space and land him on a chunk of moving iron only 2,160 miles in diameter. Everything was brand new - it all had to be developed, tested, redesigned and tested again, repeatedly over many years.

The Mercury and Gemini missions of the early 1960's taught us how to get into space and work effectively in that environment. The Apollo program used the science gained from those missions to send a man to the moon and bring him back.

There were five more successful manned missions to the lunar surface after Apollo 11. During that time, astronauts collected nearly 900 pounds of lunar rock samples and conducted hundreds of scientific experiments.

Apollo astronauts were essentially test pilots but in order to accomplish the objectives of each mission, each man also had to be trained in seismology, geology, meteorology and a litany of other "ologies." Even with all of the scientific training, getting off the ground was still the most dangerous part of the trip.

Fortunately, there were only three casualties directly related to the development of the Apollo spacecraft and, ironically, those occurred on the ground. The crew of Apollo 1 was killed when their capsule caught fire during a routine test on the launch pad.

Given that we basically put three guys in a pop can and mounted it on top of a hydrogen bomb, it is a miracle no one else died. Early on, NASA was plagued with technical failures but they finally got it right. After all, we tend to learn more from failure than success.

Apollo 13 is the perfect example - at least those guys got back home. Decades later, however, the crews of space shuttles Challenger and Columbia were not so lucky. The truth is, space travel is not safe and sometimes the American public becomes complacent.

After the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, NASA turned its attention to the Apollo Applications Program - what later became known as "Skylab," America's first space station. Skylab was placed in orbit in 1973 but was only used for one year, being visited just three times.

The abandoned space laboratory fell into a decaying orbit and burned up on re-entry in 1979. By that time, the space shuttle was the new toy in NASA's chest and Skylab, as well as Apollo, were all but forgotten.

The big question now is whether or not we (America) will ever go back to the moon. In a 2004 speech President George W. Bush announced plans for U.S. astronauts to return to the moon no later than 2020 as part of NASA's Constellation spacecraft program.

In my opinion, with a looming recession and no apparent political or commercial motivation for the venture, I believe it doubtful that we will return to the moon anytime soon - despite presidential promises. Financial and scientific intervention from the commercial sector may be needed to even make the attempt.

As the final curtain closes on the space shuttle's era, NASA may be an old, tired remnant of a by-gone era. It is very likely that if America is to leave earth's orbit again in a manned spacecraft, it will be a private, commercial enterprise (Star Trek pun intended).

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