Janet CollinsThe Lost Interest in the First Lunar Landing
July 22nd 2009 10:38
The news and all the programs have been nearly all about the first landing on the moon this week. Obviously the main reason for this was its 40th anniversary. While it may be nostalgic for a lot of us to remember that day in July 1969, do any of the young ones who weren’t around to witness it even care?
The Apollo 11 venture really started out eight years earlier when President John F Kennedy vowed that America would land a man on the moon and bring him back safely to earth before the decade was out. They did it even though Kennedy was no longer around to witness it. In fact, this promise was made after the first man had successfully ventured into space so it was not really a long time before the dream was accomplished.
The euphoria that surrounded the event can really only be understood by those around at the time. More than 600 million people were reported to have watched it at schools, in community halls and at home all around the world.
It wasn’t long before the excitement faded. Nine rockets were sent to the moon after the first landing. Six of them landed there. Twelve Americans in all walked on the moon but none of these missions generated the excitement the first one had. Only the unfortunate missions that met disaster seem to grab real attention – and that was back then.
So it is not surprising that kids, teenagers and even young adults do not feel the excitement or the wonder at man’s first lunar landing. There is also much of a blurred line between reality and fiction and so much extraordinary activity is shown in our movies and television that a moonwalk back in 1969 doesn’t really mean much to them.
The cartoon by Moir in today’s Sydney Morning Herald says it all.
Image credit: Cartoonist Moir in The Sydney Morning Herald
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Comment by sanity.road
My wife and I were newly weds, sitting up in our bed for hours, while watching the moon landing develop. Long had we thought the feat impossible.
Early in our lives, we were treated to the Weekly Reader in grammar school. Several times it predicted that someday "man would walk on the moon." The newsletter/activity newspaper even questioned if the first on the moon would find a cheese-like surface, or would fall into an abyss of soft surfaces, not unlike quick sand. These readings created excited anticipation in all of us, but we still doubted it would happen in our lifetimes. But it was done!
I can understand a younger person not feeling the same enthusiasm, but for those of us who lived during it, the anniversary and its celebration were well worth it.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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Comment by Schmoozer
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This was the same time that jets were starting to replace propeller driven planes; I remember seeing the first jets land at Idlewild Airport (later Kennedy Airport) in New York; today's youth only know about jet airliners and nothing else.
I remember doing duck and cover drills in class in second grade, getting under my desk, covering my head with my hands with my butt sticking up ready to be fried by a nuclear blast. I remember having to wear stainless steel dog tags so my remains could be identified after I was fried in a Soviet nuclear attack.
Then JFK came along, and with the help of the reformed good Nazi Werner von Braun, we built a bigger rocket than the Soviets, we sent a man to the moon, and we won the space race (and we built more rockets and nuclear weapons than were necessary to fry the Soviet's butts).
I saw the moon landing a year before I got married, and while I was living in Florida, I saw the Challenger blow up. So, knowing what I know about the risks of the moon mission (I worked on the circuit boards that were part of the on board computers on all of the Apollo missions), I am still in awe.
I can understand the indifference of someone who didn't see the history that I saw; they are only interested in the history that they experience.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I thought the cartoon was very true and very funny. What I also think is interesting - and I am as much at fault as anyone else here - is that after the Apollo 11 mission, all the others had very little attention in comparison. In fact, most of the public weren't that interested anymore.
It still had to be an amazing adventure.
Thanks for dropping in and sharing.
Comment by Janet Collins
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It would help a bit I am sure but you can't really blame them. It's all been done before. I just found the cartoon funny.
Thank you.
Comment by Janet Collins
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What cruelty! I am sure that left you with a mark or two.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and your memories. It was really interesting to read.
Take care.
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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It was however for its time. It was the late 60's and the ephoria of the era will probably not be matched again in my lifetime.
It was a sign that the 'new generation' had arrived and taken the place of those who had gone before - there was promise and hope - and the moon landing (along with the uprising about the war in Vietnam - were two of the strongest physical messages that period will be remembered for.
Today's generation - as cluey and as techno savvy as they may be - have a certain (let's say laid back) attitude (some would say apathetic) to leaving their mark on the world through challenge, achievement and the betterment of mankind.
Comment by Janet Collins
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Thanks for dropping in and take care.
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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Right on!
Peace sister . . .
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Comment by Janet Collins
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There were many rumours around years ago that it was all a fake. I think the rumours were just that.... rumours. I believe it was true because the information that NASA got from that first mission launched many further missions. I think it just ended up being too expensive for what it was worth.
I also don't think in 1969 filming technology was advanced enough to be able to "fake it" but I know many would disagree with me.
Thank you for the comment.