I was born back when the international space race was at its apogee, so the Moon landings have always been a prominent part of my life. In many ways the various space-related programmes to be found around the world were the polar opposite of the cold war; with both exploration and antagonism existing as fallout from divergent political ideologies, backed by immense industrial complexes, vying for supremacy. It was both literally the world I was born into and possibly the single major influence on me as I was growing up. As I was just over one year old when Armstrong and Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon I have no recollections of staying up long into the night, holding vigil in front of the now-familiar grey and grainy live television stream. I believe that as a family we watched it though so, although it can have meant nothing to me, I was at least there.
I do have vague recollections of reports about men exploring the Moon on subsequent missions, the full-colour film of Saturn V launches and highly polished Apollo modules glinting against the ink-black sky and the cloud streaked blue Earth are authentic memories. Truth be told though the Moon landings were only coming to be of personal interest as they were prematurely halted. My own truly formative years belonged to Skylab, the Apollo / Soyuz link-up and the emerging fresh adventure of reusable orbiters through the Space Shuttle. Of course, the Apollo missions, along with the trailblazers from earlier years (including those from outside of America) still excited and inspired. They were still a relevant part of the culture that I found myself in as I went through school and into my teenage years.
Although it could be argued that other missions were at least of similar significance, Gagarin's first flight into space is an obvious example, it is the first Moon mission that remains the trope regularly trotted out for excellence or achievement. As an endeavour, it certainly overshadowed all that had gone before or indeed that has happened since with regard to space flight. Possibly the very public declaration by Kennedy that launched it all or the immense investment in everything from space suits to office complexes purely in support of this one goal is what burned it so deeply into the collective consciousness. A huge project conducted largely under the global eye of an emerging media-savvy information consumer.
This is a particular aspect that is made apparent from the immense archive raided for the programmes currently celebrating the 50th anniversary of Armstrong's “small step”. As I am still a committed enthusiast these programmes are naturally of great interest to me, but they are also interesting because of where that lifelong passion has led. I revisit the heady excitement of 1969 as a temporal outsider but a professional insider – I have been lucky in that my interest, for a while at least, was also my job. Perhaps what I worked on doesn't inform my view of manned flight a great deal but I now look on it all with some fresh insight born of experience in spacecraft design. Age in itself to brings new perspectives, trepidation now sits more readily alongside excitement.
The "Moon Launch Live" programme, in particular, has opened my eyes to the darker possibilities that overshadowed the mission. I think I am starting to gain a new appreciation of what Apollo XI meant, accompanying the familiar exhilaration I am developing a deep-rooted understanding of how perilous the adventure was. Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins travelled in a small, vulnerable capsule that now seems impossibly crude for the job it had to do in keeping them safe and returning them home. Undoubtedly sophisticated for its day, and a thing of wonder for years after, time and the advance of technology now highlights its marginal nature. They were truly pioneers heading out on a journey alone and isolated, but with the whole world carried vicariously via the television signal sent back home and a shared will for their success. I have lived with the stories of how everyone around the world watched it, but I think I now have a more empathetic feel for how each individual did so with a very personal engagement.
Apollo XI was a mission that fulfilled a hubris laden declaration of intent born of political power plays, carried out from a planet blighted by wars and poverty - and yet it ended up truly being a beacon of success for all. America may have solely funded the Apollo programme and brought it to fruition for its own vested interests but it is humanity that visited the Moon. Perhaps then that is why it still resonates with us? It is one of the few times that the conspicuous achievements of one nation have spread beyond its selfish remit into something that we can all look to in wonder, and to take pride in? I can only hope the evermore extreme, divisive and fractured society that we see around us can learn something from this opportunity to look back on one of our high points as a species. What makes us different isn't as important as the goals we share. When we fulfill our destiny it is not for ourselves alone but for everyone.
