If I could put this one in bold, I would, as it’s possibly the most spectacular thing the Americans have ever done.
To me, landing on the moon was always something humans had done ages ago, and barely even in colour. I knew my parents had lived through the event but they never implied that it was an important part of their lives – it wasn’t nearly as important as, say, that time my great-grandfather drove his car through the back of the garage by mistake.
A while back I read Andy Chaikin’s splendid book, A Man on the Moon. The book is an amazing account of the Apollo programme and the moon landings – Andy Chaikin is British, so it’s pleasantly devoid of chants of “USA! USA!” and trite tales of how Neil Armstrong’s dog fell in love as soon as he landed, or similar such Independence Day-esque bollocks. It’s just an honest account of an extraordinary feat of mankind.
The extraordinary feat, if it can be summarised, was this. In 1959, America had no rockets other than missiles. In 1969, they landed someone on the moon, had them potter around for a while poking at stuff and brought them back again. Of course there are all sorts of technological wonders going on here, but perhaps the most interesting part of this is in the numbers. The moon is 385,000km from earth. That is one fuck of a long way, whether you have a rocket or not. In 2005-dollars, this programme cost the taxpayer $140bn. That is the entire GDP of Pakistan and represents a thousand dollars for every American citizen. One fifth of the world population watched the live transmission of the first moonwalk. At its peak, 400,000 people were directly employed by the Apollo programme.
Every so often, we as human beings need these sort of dangerous, expensive, unjustifiable follies to be brought down upon our country by those in power. We need this to feel like we’re progressing as a species, even if on most days we are more worried about traffic and healthcare. Responsibility to the people through democracy makes things like this harder – my ancestors will sadly not be touring Castle Obama a thousand years down the line – but Kennedy proved that it doesn’t make it impossible. When the people have a genuinely inspirational common goal, a nation can unite behind it and enjoy a collective euphoria and sense of purpose so splendid that they hadn’t realised it existed.
It strikes me that the Kennedy-esque aura that surrounds Obama right now and the downturn of the economy is going to leave a situation ripe for a “grand plan” when America’s finances start to pick up.Once he’s pulled out of Iraq and turned it into a new bloody dictatorship, the American people are going to be clamouring for something less horrific and more exciting to pull together and spend money on. Ten years seems like a good watermark (it worked for Kennedy) but what to do? Tallest building? Man on Mars? Zero dependence on fossil fuel?
Here’s the One Thing: moving the USA to metric. I’ll vote for any president who puts this on his / her / its agenda. “The people” may curse to begin with, but they’ll learn to appreciate it. Euphoria may or may not be part of it, but I’ll sure as hell be a happier man. And if history counts for anything, then putting a man on Mars will be easier as a consequence as well.
Bemusingly the loss of NASA’s climate orbiter was precisely due to the fact that one team was using Metric and the other Imperial: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/ so lets not do the Metric and the Mars thing concurrently.
I think relieving ourselves from our oil addiction (or at least being energy independent–we produce a fair amount of oil ourselves) is within our grasp. Obama said as much during one of the presidential debates with McCain:
“I’ve called for an investment of $15 billion a year over 10 years. Our goal should be, in 10 year’s time, we are free of dependence on Middle Eastern oil.”
This seems (to me) very similar to JFK and the moonshot. I think we already have the technology (or are very close). We just have to put a stake in the ground and put our money where our mouth is. Of course, the current financial crisis may put a significant crimp in that plan.
Do not be surprised if your ancestors are touring Castle Obama…people still flock to Newport, Rhode Island to tour the Kennedy mansions.
Two thoughts for you:
1. The moon landings were made using inertial guidance and analog devices, nothing digital, no computers aboard.
2. President Carter created a directive that the USA be on metric system by 1980. All we have to show for that is the extra set of smaller numbers on automotive speedometers.
I am proud that America has gone to the moon… it is an achievement that speaks volumes to our collective great human potential… the fact that we are not on the metric system yet, is ridiculous.
You think that’s a mind blower? Try this on for size: The Wright Brothers’ first piloted powered flight was in 1903. The moon landing was in 1969. Do the math. That’s only 66 years from the invention of the airplane to landing on the freaking MOON!
Give up on the metric system. Even Britain is not completely metric. There was an article about it on BBC News online. Going metric is about as necessary as everyone changing currency to the Euro. Not necessary at all. Britain got it right by not changing over.
very important not to bring any liudiqs or gells or creams that are more than 100 ml in volume in your carry on luggage (the bags that you’ll have with you on the plane). By liudiqs and gells I mean shampoo or soap or makeup or drinks or alcohol. If you need to take certain medications on regular basis (every day) you might want to bring them with you in your carry on because there is always a chance your luggage is going to get delayed. Always allow at least 3 hours between your connecting flights into Canada and within Canada. To make it easier, if you are flying with an airline that has seat selection option online is to do that prior to flying and to have your boarding passes printed out and ready to go.
They brought several jeeps up to the moon, why no telescope? That would have made more sense IMHO.