Many would say the human spirit is about exploration and the infinite pursuit of knowledge. Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed — and walked — on the moon. It was a feat equal only to our audacity to reach for the stars. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy said “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth“. On July 20, 1969, we did just that. Our trips to the moon showed a nation — and a world — the infinite possibilities that await when we put our collective minds together.
Since that day, there has been an explosion of technological and scientific advances. From computer science to medical science, our space program has helped us take “one giant leap for mankind“. Yet, days like today should disappoint us all. It has been nearly thirty-seven years since we last set foot on the moon. In other words, we haven’t been back. The closest we have come to Mars are digitally spliced photographs turned panoramas from surface probes. We have pictures and some detailed information on Jupiter. We have an International Space Station. We have a space shuttle that is old, outdated, expensive, and falling apart. That is about it. There has been nothing big. What a shame.
Some have said that going to the moon yielded us nothing and the space program was and is nothing but a big waste of money. Some have even gone further and said that we never went to the moon. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just imagine a world deprived of fiber optics, microchips, and satellites. Without these, we would have no Internet, no worldwide communications, and no personal computers. Without those, no DNA, fewer medicines, fewer surgical procedures, and more. These all came directly and indirectly from the space program. Yes, the world would be an entirely different place had we not ventured into the heavens.
Given the importance of the space program, why haven’t we been back? Why haven’t we been to Mars? A teacher of mine once told me that invention is often out of necessity. Put in that context, imagine the tools we would invent so that a crew could not only survive — but thrive — on Mars. There would be, just because of such a mission, significant advances in food, medicine, meteorology, computers, communications, and biology. And, those advances would lead to other advances. We can’t even begin to enumerate the possibilities.
Today, I celebrate a generation of men and women that took us to the moon and helped us reach for the stars. Today, I feel the torch being passed to my generation. It is up to us to carry it forth; and, for the sake of mankind, we must. But, in order to do it, we’ll have to work together. Our John F. Kennedy needs to stand up and say we’re going to do it, period. We’re also going to have to do what no one has wanted to do — stop letting the root of all evil hold us back. And by this, I am referring to money. There isn’t anything on Earth that hasn’t been ruined or destroyed because of it. But, as money is not going away anytime soon, we’re going to need to find a way to pool our collective resources to accomplish big audacious goals and overcome the root of all evil. If we do, there will be no stopping us. By the end of the century, we will be traveling the stars in vessels capable of reaching other inhabited planets. Imagine what could be learned from other cultures and races of people. Talk about the ultimate in exploration and infinite pursuit of knowledge.