This is the second in my four-part series on the really big picture questions to consider during the holiday season of reflection. The first installment was titled, “Are We Alone in the Universe?” Next up…
The Legacy of Space Exploration
During 2018 and 2019 there is and will be a lot of celebration of the space exploration achievements of 50 years ago. This is due to it being, well, 50 years since the first exploratory missions to the Moon, and the fact that the astronauts from that era are at the end of their lives. And make no mistake, those astronauts were heroes.
America’s space program was part of the Cold War with Russia. There were unmanned flights at first, then the Mercury program, followed by Gemini and then the Apollo missions of 1963 to 1972. The first lunar orbit was in December 1968. The first man on the Moon was on July 20, 1969.
The celebrations already include the movie, First Man. There will undoubtedly be more television shows, books and events during 2019.
My favorite book about this era is called The Home Planet, conceived and edited by Kevin W. Kelley and published in 1988. Since it was published well past the Moon landings, it also includes much material from subsequent space exploration, especially the International Space Station missions. The book is, as the title indicates, a collection of photos of the Earth from space. It is accompanied by quotes from various astronauts and cosmonauts, from many different countries, not just the US and USSR.
And while the Space Race was part of the grim battle with the Soviet Union, I remember space exploration as a time of optimism. After having explored all of Earth (except maybe the oceans), space was thought of as the final frontier. It was the expression of the ceaseless curiosity of humans and humanity.
But a funny thing happened. After seeing the Moon, the astronauts spent their trip home trying to describe the endless gray tones. The perspective of seeing the Earth, looking so small against the blackness of space, changed all those who had the opportunity.
American Russell Schweickart said, “What took no analysis…was the overwhelming beauty…the stark contrast between bright colorful home and stark black infinity…the unavoidable and awesome personal relationship, suddenly realized, with all life on this amazing planet…Earth, our home.” Another American, Alfred Worden, said, “Now I know why I’m here. Not for a closer look at the moon, but to look back at our home. The Earth.”
Edgar Mitchell said of how the trip changed him, “We went to the moon as technicians; we returned as humanitarians.” Russian Oleg Makarov expressed it this way, “Those who have been in space realize that, in spite of the complete disparity between them, they are one in an important way, namely, an acute feeling of being an inhabitant of Earth, a feeling of personal responsibility to preserve the only planet we have.”
Perhaps the best summary is from Russian Yuri Glazkov, —”After eighteen days of a space mission I was convinced that all visible space—the black emptiness, the white, unblinking stars and planets—was lifeless. The thought that life and humankind might be unique in the endless universe depressed me and brought melancholy upon me, and yet at the same time compelled me to evaluate everything differently. Nature has been limitlessly kind to us, having helped humankind appear, stand up, and grow stronger. She has generously given us everything she has amassed over the billions of years of inanimate development. We have grown strong and powerful, yet how have we answered this goodness?”
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