I find man’s recent history with the moon (i.e. since the 1960’s) to be a fascinating subject.
For example, did you know that 24 men have travelled to the moon but only half that figure have actually stepped foot and walked on the moon?
Three of those 12 “moon walkers” are no longer with us and the youngest is now 70 (at least that’s what my research says).
Did you know all these moon landings took place in a 3 and a half year period between 1968 and 1972?
Did you know that most of the astronauts who have walked on the moon have either become depressed or gone totally insane or have indeed “found God”. It’s safe to say that none of them lived a normal life or were the same person after the experience and one thing I’ve always wondered is, what personal dreams could you possibly have once you have stepped foot on the moon? Where could life take you next apart from just talking about the experience itself to people, time and time again.
It seems likely that there will be a point in the near future when once again no man on Earth has walked on the moon. What a sad thought.
One of the most significant human achievements in the history of mankind and we haven’t bothered repeating it in several decades? Why is this so and does this question whether it was such a huge leap forward in the first place? Is one of man’s proudest days where we left our home and crossed our boundaries to stand on another world, such a significant thing? Has it really changed the world at all?
It’s become such a sad state of affairs and not the “new exciting space age” that everyone was expecting thirty years ago. Indeed, in 2007 your just as likely to find members of the general public totally dismissing the idea that we ever walked on the moon in the first place.
Which is nonsense but there you go.
Why I am babbling on about space? Well the good folks over at Filmstalker have stumbled across a brand new trailer for a space documentary titled In the Shadow of the Moon which has been put together by director David Sington. The movie has re-mastered space footage of the all the Apollo moon-landings and interviews with all the surviving astronauts.
The trailer for this looks absolutely superb. It should prove to be a fascinating documentary that looks to honor the terrific achievement of the men who walked on the moon although somewhere down the line I do hope we get to see a much darker documentary which shows the after effects of the moon landings not only on the guys who did it but the whole of civilisation also.
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I’m not an expert on conspiracies but some of the photos of the moon landing must be fake. Like the one with the flag which is blowing, how is it blowing when there is no wind in space? Like I said I am no expert so…
What would the point be in going back to the moon? Magellan circumnavigating the Earth by sailing ship is one of the greatest achievements in human history, but we don’t do that every 30 years just because we can. Why waste millions, if not billions, of dollars to go to the moon again, unless there is something significant to be gained, aside from RAH, RAH! USA! USA! (or whatever country makes the trip). It’s time to take the next step, whatever that might be. Let’s not go into space just for the sake of it.
That said, the movie looks very cool and I can’t wait to see it.
Speaking as an American I’ll tell you now space travel is prohibitively expensive and when one considers all the very real problems here from poverty to AIDS space becomes a tragic waste of money needed here on earth.
There are no “answers” out there, no matter what Star Trek tells us. It was nice to go to the moon, but again, how many children could that have fed? We need to take of the problems on the ground before we go jaunting off for the stars. Because unless pulversised moon rocks, or Maritan sand can be refined into a cure for cancer there’s no damned reason for us to waste money on the moon and the stars any longer, we need that cash right here on the ground.
Although I would agree that there are more pressing issues on the planet, including health care, food supplies, those living in poverty and especially global warming… it’s surely man’s duty to keep exploring.
I believe there’s much about the moon that we haven’t discovered yet. It would surely wouldn’t be any less fruitful than having man floating around in space stations doing very little for months and months on end.
I agree with you Matt, and I’m glad, as I recently discovered and like your website and will come back again!
Discovery, exploration and invention inspires the best in man, and all people. Yes, there are problems on Earth, but there always have been, and Earth has by and large taken good care of itself – and it’s very difficult to argue that Earth has not become a better place over the past 100 or 50 years – despite the escalating media fear hype of increasingly minor issues.
I sense that the more we explore space, the better we’ll understand and value Earth in a more integrated way. For example – if we study other planets and terra-forming them, then we’ll better learn how to save our own (including from the risks of global warming etc.).
However, it’s the private industry’s turn to open up space and we’ll be seeing individuals traveling to space in the next two years with Virgin Galactic, with more companies to follow. We’re on the verge of a new era. After the industrial and information ages, it will soon become the Space Age. Of course the USA aims to get to Mars by 2020, with many pushing for an earlier arrival, so that will be something to follow!
No wars, more Space travel!