The Final Frontier

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Neil Armstrong talking that first step on the surface of the Moon. In 1961, John F. Kennedy had made a pledge to land an American on the moon and bring him back safely by the decade was out. NASA then kicked into overdrive to build a rocket and assemble teams that could accomplish the task. The moon landing still remains controversial to this day. There are still a great deal who believe it was a hoax preformed on a sound stage, just don't tell Buzz Aldrin that or him sock you one. Others look at the countless billions we've supposedly wasted on the space program, with the moon landing being a classic example. Social justice crusaders saw it as $6.5 billion (at the time) thrown away for the sole purpose of gaining oneupmanship over the Soviet Union. The reality of the Moon landing was far more than that to the eyes of the public back in '69. The Vietnam War was in high gear, social upheaval & violent revolution was gripping the world, and nuclear apocalypse seemed as likely as it ever did. After witnessing so much destruction, the world needed something to look up on. When the Saturn V rocket blasted off the launch pad, America cheered. When the Eagle landed on the Moon, the world cheered. Two men walked on an alien world, the greatest accomplishment in the history of man. They were not Americans, they were humans. It was not an accomplishment of America but an accomplishment of the entire world. For eight days in 1969, the world's heart beat as one. Something it had never done before and something it has not done since. Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins were not just astronauts, they were great uniters, whether they realized it or not. It was the first time mankind could see pictures of Earth live on TV, looking so small and distant, and realize that we were all in this together on the blue marble.

Since the cancellation of the Apollo program, interest in space travel has waned significantly, and has only become more controversial. NASA's shuttle program is hardly awe inspiring. A few days in low-earth orbit to study the effects of micro gravity on tiny screws, or something to that tune. The loss of Columbia and Challenger only raised more questions as to whether the program is worth it. The International Space Station has also been a dismal failure. After 11 years, with the estimated construction completion date being in 2003, it is nowhere near being finished. NASA plans to de-orbit the station in 2016, a mere five years after it's new completion date. Many question the need for manned space missions, and the financial argument still comes up frequently. Socialists feel that the money be better spent on social justice missions and wealth redistribution, to make life for people on Earth better. It's a vary narrow view of what the space program has provided us though. A debate on CTV Newsnet last night on the issue highlighted the fact that trillions of dollars have been spent on various bailouts of banks and the auto industry. The $100 billion spent on the space program seems like a bargain next to that. Indeed it has been considering what has come out of it. Next time you turn on any communications device, remember that your signal is probably being bounced off a satellite somewhere. No space program would make global communication not impossible but extremely difficult and significantly more costly. There would be no GPS; making transportation more difficult not only for you but also airlines, ships, trucking companies, and search & rescue. Advanced medical imaging, cordless tools, improved baby foods, composite materials (carbon fibre, advanced polymers) , scratch resistant glass, smoke detectors, Velcro, better sun glasses, better solar energy collection, recycling systems, and pace makers can all be directly attributed to the space program. Stuff that benefits people around the world every day. All this innovation could pay for the space program several times over. Through programs like Hubble and Apollo, we have also been able to learn significantly more about our universe than we ever would without them. Who would have guessed that the Moon is possibly a fragment of Earth?

Then there's simply the sheer wonder of what we can achieve. Like the moon landing, it can bring the world together. Mankind is hardwired to explore and learn more about their universe. It's human nature, it drives us. Whether you agree with colonialism or not, the age of exploration benefited Western European nations enormously. China has enjoyed the same success, with Zheng He becoming their Columbus. That was until the empire lapsed back into isolationism with a bar on maritime trade around the late Ming era. China soon quickly fell behind Europe. Simply put, we need to push out into the world to maintain our civilization. Space travel is the next logical step. We need to go back to the Moon and push towards Mars is we want to survive. Buzz Aldrin is also advocating the push to Mars. Humanity needs to step forward, and not make that one small step the last.