Letters | Sunday, 02 August 2009

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Moonstruck

The lunar landing in 1969 will long be remembered by future generations even though 40 years have already gone by.
People’s expectations were high and large and I remember vividly what a young patient of mine was told by his teacher at school, who, obviously buoyed up by the excitement of the event, told pupils that they were going to be the first generation to live on the moon! They really believed what the teacher said and like many others thought no one would spend all that thought, effort and money to the moon, just for a few ‘weekend’ stopovers.
In fact, the moon landings were undertaken chiefly for Cold War political reasons, to demonstrate America’s technological skill and might over Soviet communism.
Even though the Apollo missions – six of which reached the moon and landed while one (Apollo XIII) failed to get there – U.S. politicians lost interest in the moon programme.
The idea of bases on the lunar surface, regular flights to the moon and the human exploration of space beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was allowed to wither on the vine, and much of the hardware, particularly the SATURN V rocket, was scrapped.
‘A one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind’ Neil Armstrong said as soon as his foot touched ‘Sea of Tranquility’. Space tourism may provide the driving force to get ‘cheap flights’ to LEO and then to hotels on the moon.
If the momentum of 1969 had been maintained, we would by now have a human presence on the moon.

Dr Herbert Messina Ferrante
Attard

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