Today July 20th 2009 is the 40th anniversary of the Lunar Landing on Mars. The Boston Globes “Big Picture” has a great gallery of photos from the time. Also recently NASA worked with movie studios to restore the original moon landing footage to a better quality. Ironically, NASA does not own have the original tapes! After 3 years of looking they have concluded that someone taped over them. You can find some of the restored footage here at NASA’s site. Although I did not get to experience it, I do think this is one Americas greatest feats.

We Choose the Moon

If NASA got $1 every time someone in a company cited John F. Kennedy’s race to the moon speech we would all be taking trips to Alpha Centauri right now! The founder of the company I used to work for used the metaphor one of the 1st times I met him in person, and it actually worked for me. It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard it before, it was the fact I felt he really understood the immensity of the mission and goal. Kennedy gave the speech on September 12th, 1962 and by July 1969 we had accomplished this goal as a nation. I say as a nation because I don’t think there have been many goals set in my lifetime in which a major majority of Americans have worked towards it (or cared). So even though I was not there, through my eyes, I do see it as national effort. Here is JFK’s speech:

The mission itself is mind blowing even by today’s standards. Disregard how rapidly we have advanced technologically since that point, the financial and logistical aspects of the mission make it seem impossible today. But somehow in roughly 6 yrs. and 9 months we accomplished it. With todays space program I think the general public has a sense of security, that rarely things will go wrong. Back then when it was pioneering and no one had a manuel to turn to it was an era of space cowboys. There were no astronauts, just test pilots. All of which who knew the risk of dying every time they flew and did it anyways. I find it all to be very gritty and real.
I know a part of that sounds romanticized, and I think a part of it is for most Americans. Every time I have heard someone reference the speech in a corporate environment there is always a cynical piece of me that says, “Yes, but they were motivated fear”. When the US started on the endeavor it was to beat a cold war enemy. How is that supposed to relate to my job (well, maybe I can see it in this economic climate)? With that said I still find it very inspiring. Fear is as good a motivator as any! The country came together and we accomplished it, that is the part I look at. I just hope we as a country still have that drive and focus when it is needed most. In the last 15 years there have been many events that the American people could have and should have rallied around. We have chosen to let those moments slip through our fingers.

With the anniversary comes the discussion on how we have not come close to reaching so far with our space program. How we have been in a steady decline and are losing the race. I tend to disagree and just think NASA can do a better job advertising/marketing (whatever you want to call it) it’s successes. It is inspiring to younger generations who dream about space. It should be inspiring to older generations to see the real progress we have made. Here are a couple projects that make me feel like anything is possible:

Mars: Spirit and Opportunity Rovers:

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004. The rover was originally designed for a 90 Sol mission (a Sol, one Martian day, is slightly longer than an Earth day at 24 hours and 37 minutes). Its mission has been extended several times as it continues to make new and profound discoveries about the red planet.

SKYLAB:

America’s first experimental space station. Designed for long duration mission, Skylab program objectives were twofold: To prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods, and to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based observations. Successful in all respects despite early mechanical difficulties, three three-man crews occupied the Skylab workshop for a total of 171 days, 13 hours. It was the site of nearly 300 scientific and technical experiments: medical experiments on humans’ adaptability to zero gravity, solar observations, and detailed Earth resources experiments. The empty Skylab spacecraft returned to Earth July 11, 1979 scattering debris over the Indian Ocean and the sparsely settled region of Western Australia.

VOYAGER:

The twin Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977 to travel to and explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, have made many intriguing discoveries, including a possible ocean of liquid water on one of Jupiter’s moons. On page 71, long-time Voyager project scientist Edward Stone of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and his colleagues detail Voyager 2′s latest finding – that the ‘bubble’ formed around the Solar System by supersonic solar wind is asymmetrical and dynamic. Stone tells Nature that the Voyager crafts will deliver more ‘firsts’ when they reach interstellar space.

NEAR SHOEMAKER:

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous – Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), named in honor of planetary scientist Gene Shoemaker, was designed to study the near Earth asteroid 433 Eros, one of the largest of the near Earth asteroids, from close orbit over a period of one year. The mission was the first-ever to orbit an asteroid and the first to touch down on the surface of an asteroid.

STARDUST:

In January 2004, the Stardust spacecraft flew through comet dust and captured specks of it in a very light, low-density substance called aerogel. During the encounter, the Dust Flux Monitor recorded rates of impact of dust particles and the Comet and Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) did real time analyses of their compositions. But primarily, Stardust captured samples and stored them for safe keep on its long journey back to Earth.

CASSINI:

Launched from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 15, 1997, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will reach the Saturnian region in July 2004. The mission is composed of two elements: The Cassini orbiter that will orbit Saturn and its moons for four years, and the Huygens probe that will dive into the murky atmosphere of Titan and land on its surface. The sophisticated instruments onboard these spacecraft will provide scientists with vital data to help understand this mysterious, vast region.

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR:

Mars Global Surveyor was the first successful U.S. mission launched to Mars since the Viking mission in 1976. After a 20-year absence at the planet, Mars Global Surveyor ushered in a new era of Mars exploration with its pioneering science investigations. Mars Global Surveyor arrived at Mars on September 11, 1997