Fifty years ago when all eyes were on the moon

Mankind will always face challenges both good and bad to contend with as the future unfolds.

Share Adjust Comment Print

This coming Saturday commemorates an auspicious historical event, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.

I was one of the 500 million or so people worldwide who listened on radio or watched the grainy television images transmitted from space as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the descent to the lunar surface while Michael Collins continued to orbit the moon solo aboard the command module Colombia.

It was breath taking, edge of the seat coverage as Armstrong piloted the Lunar Module over a crater on the approach to a clearing in a boulder strewn area of the Sea of Tranquility. There was less than a minute of fuel left in the descent thrusters on touch down.

The world held its collective breath and then Armstrong’s words cut through the static “Tranquility Base here… The Eagle has landed” confirmed all was well aboard the spaceship.
It was cause for celebration and people everywhere shared the joy of a uniquely American achievement.

Another memorable quote from Armstrong on a day that inspired many often repeated phrases eloquently summarized the feelings of many as he descended the ladder to be the first human being in history to set foot on another world; “One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

It’s remarkable to think that the moon landing occurred less than a decade after President John F. Kennedy set the national dream in motion with his 1961 speech to Congress “Before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

The newly elected president spoke those words just four years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in October, 1957. The benign orbiting satellite started the space race and the Soviets would maintain an early lead with their heavy lift, multi-stage rockets.

Nevertheless, science, innovation and the development of new technology progressed at a pace usually only seen in times of war. At its best the moon landing set a direction for the future of manned space missions, colonies on the moon and Mars, exploring the solar system and then the stars. But that wasn’t meant to be. The public’s fascination with the Apollo program quickly faded as subsequent lunar launches became routine. The final scheduled mission Apollo 18 was scrubbed entirely. Perhaps the moon landing was little more than a distraction and there was much going on in the world to warrant distraction.

The year 1969 was rife with conflicting examples of ideology derailed by reality.  The war in Vietnam was still raging and the focus of protests was becoming more violent in confrontations between students and police. Race relations in the U.S. headed in a similar direction towards militancy following the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King in 1968.
Richard M. Nixon, having been sworn into office in his first term as president just six months before the moon landing was elected on a promise to end the war, however neither the war nor efforts to achieve “peace with honour” we’re going well. The first withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam began in July and would continue for the next several years, until the U.S., recognizing the looming loss of South Vietnam, abandoned the country to its fate in 1975.

In mid-August, Woodstock promised to usher in the Age of Aquarius with three days of Peace, Love and Music on a farm in upstate New York. Before the end of the year another rock concert hosted by the Rolling Stones at Altamont Speedway in Northern California, ends in violence and death. The event is sometimes referred to as marking “The end of the 60s.”

Also in August, the ritualistic murders by members of the Manson family of actress Sharon Tate and four others followed two days later with the killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles shocked the world.

A sense of things spinning out of control followed the moon landing when journalist Seymour Hearsh broke the story of the My Lai Massacre where U.S. soldiers murdered more than 350 Vietnamese villagers in March 1968.

It was certainly the end of innocence for a decade that started with such optimism and hope. The collision of ideologies between the generation that came of age during the Second World War and their children, the Baby Boom generation who rejected the duplicity of values, sparked the counter culture revolution.

Now here we are poised on the cusp of a new decade, the third of the new millennium. Always hopeful that the years ahead hold promise of a better life. But the reality is mankind will always face challenges both good and bad to contend with as the future unfolds.