When progress runs backward

I always find it quite sad when I read about the moon landings, or more precisely how the ambitions of space travel have fallen sharply back to Earth since the days of the Apollo program. Perhaps Icarus might have been a better moniker, since it seems man flew so high, only to crash back down for a long time.

The recent trigger for this was an article in the Observer on the 4oth anniversary of the landings. Apart from the fact that the moon is again beyond our reach, it was also somehow depressing to be reminded that with the space shuttle being retired, then even the options of just getting into orbit are being reduced. There is of course a new program talked about, but without real and new funding it's unlikely it'll be actually realized.

Given how space is the epitome of what is beyond our natural reach, and hence illustrates the triumph of collective humanity over given nature, there's something tragic in the fact that I could say to my son, when his grandfather was young they put men on the moon, when his father was young they put people in space...and when in the coming years while he is still young, they probably won't do either. Surely technology, progress even, was supposed to run the other way?

However, when one thinks about it, it all makes sense. Brutally put, glamour and one upmanship aside (which was after all a large part of the drive for the apollo mission) there isn't a lot of advantage in putting humans in space, and a hell of a lot of cost and risk. What always astonishes me, after the fact that the Apollo crew were using slide rules and sextants, and t below even the most basic smartphone, is just how hard getting out of orbit really still is. getFrom my understanding getting to the moon is another ballgame entirely to just the 'standard' trips to the space station etc. I.e. it's not just because we can't be bothered, it's just that it's still damn hard and dangerous! Which of course makes the original achievement all the more impressive.

And being honest, nostalgia (even if I missed Apollo, I played with space Lego in the shuttle heyday) and wow factor apart, I also don't think it's worth it. The pinacle of humanity's power it might represent, but it didn't do a whole lot of good for that humanity tself. While such projects of course have real technological offshoots, and spawn perhaps even more important aspiration, the sums involved are mind blowing, and given the problems here on earth, one has to weigh up the morality of it all. Of course a dollar not sent into space does not mean a dollar on malaria research, but still blood and treasure are spent which could be used for other things.

Aspiration is needed, and makes more of this world than we are given, but a balance in what we aim for is needed, so we waste our time neither in the gutter nor the stars. As Daedalus said to his son, I guess I could now say to mine : "Don't fly to low, or the waves will weigh down your wings, nor too high, lest the sun may burn them".

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copies of the referenced articles are saved here :

- Apollo the dream that fell to earth