“We all saw the moon, many prepared the way,but few stepped on”
The fortieth anniversary of the 1969 moon landing will identify once again that with sheer grit and determination, that what seems impossible to man, is indeed very possible ! It was not so much July 21st 1969 that caused us all to remember that unforgettable day, but perhaps rather the ten year quest by many who believed that they could. “Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin will always be remembered as the first human beings to walk on the Lunar surface, however Michael Collins was the very first Astronaut to ensure that they safely made it home”
Over a fifty year period we have been able to enjoy what was once the impossible dream with the likes of remarkable men and women putting their lives at high risk for the benefit of the advancement of many technologies. Men like Yuri Gagarin (first human in space), Alan Shepherd, first American to push further space travel, Valentina Tershkova, first Cosmonaut lady to experience space travel. John Glenn (Mercury Missions) who flew the first U.S. orbital mission aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962. Apollo 10, and Gemini 6 and 9 Astronaut Tom Stafford who in December 1965 piloted Gemini 6 during the first rendezvous in space, and also helped in the development of techniques to prove rendezvous practicalities.
That same year Russian Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first man to walk in space. His historic spacewalk took him outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes on March 18 1965. Leonov was only connected to the craft by a five-foot tether, and nearly lost his life because at the end of his spacewalk his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space so much that he could not re-enter the airlock. Probably it was only the training he would have been given by the many ground crew staff over a pro-longed period of time that enabled him to think quick, and to save his own life!
On the 21st of August 1965 Gordon Cooper flew as Command Pilot of Gemini 5 on an eight day mission with Pete Conrad. They achieved as Astronauts a new space endurance record by travelling a distance of 3,312,993 miles (5,331,745 km) in 190 hours and 56 minutes. This was particularly signficant as it proved that it was possible to endure a flight to the Moon and back. Whilst many were wondering when President Kennedy’s goal and prediction of getting a man on the surface of the Moon by the end of the sixties decade would become a reality, a vast array of people were preparing vital missions to ensure that it would.
And what of the many people who lost their lives in this remarkable quest to the Lunar surface ? Brave Astronauts such as Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee who all died together in tragic circumstances through a flash fire inside a capsule being tested in 1967 for project Apollo 1. Through this tragic event NASA learnt much concerning safety and precautions that would now be required even more so if the likes of Armstrong Collins and Aldrin were to make it to the Moon and back. Two other well known incidents around the Russian space programs ( Soyuz 1 and 11) happened in 1967 and 1971 causing the loss of lives of four Cosmonauts as they attempted re-entry on their return to Earth.
Perhaps then we should reflect on just how Astronauts of that era would have felt at that tragic moment in time ? Whilst also remembering the brave men and women who died on future space travel missions such as the Space Shuttle. Their reliance on technical crews , back up crews and of course each other must give incredible security to their dreams, so when tragic technical incidents do happen, how much more brave are those who still choose to follow their Astronaut careers?
This leads me on to say that in stark reality I guess there were never ever only twelve men who walked on the surface of the Moon from 1969 to 1972, but rather thousands of men and women who took hold of “The Vision” with them also. One of the reasons I am writing this is that nearly every conversation I have concerning the validity of men walking on the Moon results in negative disbelief by the public that it never actually took place for real ? Whilst I admit that I have never ever spoken to a single Astronaut in my entire life to date, I have at the very least looked at over 50 years of evidence to realise these remarkable people gave us their very all, for some of them this would be their very lives !
Whether we choose to believe that Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin made it to the Moon or not ? and I do ! At the very least we must recognise a magnificent decade of unsurpassed achievements that still stretch peoples imaginations and visions today. Their legacy has inspired many many space travel success stories, including: Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), Skylab, Space Shuttle, MIR Space station, and Brian Binnie for Spaceship One.
Gary Royston Cole (May 2009)
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Hi my Son,
This is your dad here - I note you are reaching for the sky!
I’m sure you will rise to great heights in whatever you become involved with. Trusting all your various ventures will have lift-off!
Great site and wish you every continued success.
love dadxx