of 55th Anniversary of the First Apollo Moon LandingThe anniversary of the moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, is approaching. This anniversary is overshadowed by the Artemis program, which was intended to land astronauts on the moon ten years later.
anniversary Apollo 11 The moon landing was a bittersweet event for a long time: no one has walked on the moon since. Apollo 17 December 1972. Until recently, the possibility of anyone else visiting the Moon seemed, at best, a distant future. Apollo seemed to represent a lost glory era unlikely to be revisited.
As time passed since the last moon landing, the world became divided between those who witnessed the Apollo moon missions live and those for whom the events were long ago.
Those who were alive during the time of the first moon landing remember well those humid summer evenings when friends and family gathered around the television to watch the first footsteps on the moon’s surface.
By today’s standards, the picture quality was terrible, but at the time, the idea of receiving live television from the Moon’s surface was as much a technological marvel as actually landing a man on the Moon and returning him to Earth.
Many who witnessed mankind’s first moon landing live believed it was just the beginning of a great era of space exploration. Soon, people were making regular trips to space stations and moon bases, and gathering around their televisions to watch the first footsteps on Mars.
A fictional example of what such a time was like is the excellent TV series “For All Mankind“And my own.”“Children of Apollo” trilogy.2001: A Space OdysseyMoon Landing, released the year before Apollo 11, also does a great job of portraying what many people believed would happen with the moon landing.
The reasons for America’s withdrawal from the Moon are complex, and I explained the details as follows: Previous WorksThe short answer is that a combination of toxic politics, poor decision-making, and a lack of vision among policymakers caused the withdrawal. The same could be said to have marred Presidents George H. W. Bush’s and George W. Bush’s attempts to put America on the Moon again.
Just when it seemed like all hope of ever walking on the moon again was lost, a surprise president named Donald Trump made a third attempt to put humans back on the moon. Project ArtemisNamed after Apollo’s twin sister, after two previous attempts that ended in failure, this time the world is likely to see footprints on the moon in the 21st century.
There are several factors supporting the Artemis program, including the emergence of Elon Musk’s commercial space company.SpaceXThese include China’s emergence as a space power, the international nature of space activities as represented by the Artemis Accords, and the recognition that space contains resources that can be harnessed for the benefit of Earth.
President Trump has appointed Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.)Top of NASAA former Congressman and political Jedi Master, he successfully sold Congress and the American people on returning to the Moon.
The next moon walk is officially scheduled for late 2026, but no one would be surprised if that date gets pushed back a year or two. The reaction of the Apollo generation, those at or beyond retirement age, is “it’s about time,” and better late than never.
When he was NASA administrator, Bridenstine used the term “Artemis Generation” to describe the people who were about to witness the first moon walk. Billions of people on Earth have never seen a human walk or work on the moon in person. They will witness that happen any minute now. It will be an experience beyond imagination.
Just like the 1960s, the world of the 2020s is filled with political lies, wars and rumors of wars, civil wars, and seemingly insoluble social problems.Artemis 3Whenever that happens, it will give us the recognition that there is still room for greatness in the world.
And for older Apollo generation members who were lucky enough to witness both moon walks, it will bring a long-awaited smile of satisfaction.
Mark R. Whittington:Why is it so hard to get back to the Moon?“Similarly”The Moon, Mars and Beyond” and more recently “Why is America returning to the Moon?He runs a blogThe mean guy’s corner.
