It's most definitely where my interest in space came from. I was eleven years old when A11 landed and I remember being fascinated by it and all of the moonlandings. At the time, I was absolutely certain I would be able to travel to the moon myself by the time I was thirty or so. Sometime later, during my high school and college years, I thought perhaps I would even get to work on the moon in one of those new moon-based industries that was bound to spring up to exploit the abundant natural resources the Apollo guys discovered there.
But public interest in something as miraculous as traveling to another celestial body completely vanished after about 5 minutes of watching it happen on live TV. To make matters worse, the Apollo landings aren't even revered today in terms of being one of the most important historical events of all time.
Last year's 40th anniversary went by largely unnoticed by the public, and this year's 41st anniversary is a complete non-event. You would think that after spending so much blood and treasure to get to the moon this country would at least emphasize the accomplishment more. Maybe even proclaim July 20 as a national holiday to recognize the event.
One would think that humanity would find it enticing that not only did Apollo get to the moon, they also found it to be loaded with valuable resources such as titanium, aluminum, helium 3, and even oxygen entrained in the soil. Plus, there is an abundance of uninterrupted, unfettered solar energy. Everything is there, made to order, to begin some level of industrialization. What a discovery!....just next door there is a golden opportunity to exploit new resources, a new land of milk and honey.
But all the public saw was rocks. There was to be no new frontier, no lunar mining operation, no more boldly going to a new place just because we can. It costs too much we are told, and no one gives a crap about going back. We can get our titanium and aluminum right here, for a nickle cheaper.
There was to be no public or political interest in any long-term investments to move some of the more environmental un-friendly industries (such as mining for metals), off of the earth to a place that is already dead. No long-term goals of turning the moon into the Earth's industrial park, thus helping to reverse some of the environmental damage and help bring the Earth closer to a near pristine condition.
We're actually lucky to have such a place nearby that affords us that opportunity. Another key benefit of Apollo is that it demonstrated that the moon is a reachable place, it is real estate, it is the eighth continent with its own unique set of resources that can be used and exploited for the benefit of man...and it is only three days away.
But the lunar mining operations were not to be, and probably will never be in my lifetime, or the lifetime of my kids or grandkids. Perhaps the shortsighted, never look past the next election mentality of most politicians will continue until the Earth dies a slow death due to over industrialization, global warming and whatever other nasty things we humans do to it. All because it is the easier, cheaper option and it is too hard and expensive to begin any investment in moving these things off-planet to a place that is already dead and doesn't care how badly you treat it or pollute it.
What did Kennedy say?..."We choose to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard." Well, apparently going back is too hard after all.
Basic Error: The accelerating Universe conclusion - reason
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