A World Without Apollo 11

TW: So today is the 40th anniversary of the landing on the moon. Many will ignore it, I suspect some of those younger than me do not particularly appreciate it. The rationale for going to the moon was always a bit precarious and certainly economically dubious. But for the Cold War mentality pushing us to one up the Soviets, there is no way the mission would have occurred.

Today folks still struggle to rationalize our continued investment in manned space flight. My guy, our POTUS, is not a spacenik, somehow despite being the right age he missed the space virus that swept those of his generation. He initiated a review our manned space program with the report due out in August. I strongly suspect the current Ares and Constellation programs (the ones that would take us back to the moon) will be curtailed in favor of less ambitious goals. A HUGE mistake.

The period from November 1963 until through especially the mid 1970's and to a certain degree the early 1980's was a series of negatives for the U.S. Numerous assassinations (oh how history could have been different), social unrest as we went through a series of racial, sexual and youth molting stages, the Vietnam War, Watergate and economic malaise (not to mention several fashion disasters). But there was one American achievement that helped buck up the nation and cement, despite all of the above, America's pre-eminent role in the world. The unique and seminal program to place a man on the moon.

The symbolism of that achievement to this day goes under-appreciated. No one could have done it. And for that reason folks were in awe.

Someone will go back to the moon and then to Mars. Whoever does so will achieve global primacy as the country that can do things no one else can. I suspect the next person on the moon will be Chinese or Indian. When that happens there will be hell to pay in the U.S. as a final nail on the notion of U.S. supremacy will have been delivered. When that happens, I just hope the folks unwilling to pay to retain our space programs (this is a bi-partisan thing, liberals want to solve poverty first-impossible- and conservatives have little vision and would rather build bigger bombers and stuff) keep there mouths shut (but of course they will not, I can see the Drudge headlines already...).