A Long Way Away...

“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.'”

― Edgar D. Mitchell (Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 14)

44 years ago today, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon, the first ever human being to set foot on another world. The last human being to set foot on the Moon left in 1972. All of the men who went to the Moon were profoundly affected by the experience - there is an excellent book, called "Moondust" by Andrew Smith which relates those experiences via interviews with the surviving Apollo astronauts. I wholeheartedly believe that we should be going back sooner, rather than later.

Not just for the challenge, we have proved that it is possible. Not just for the science, although I believe that we could learn a huge amount more about the origins of our planet, its Moon, and indeed the whole of our Solar System. A whole lot of other things too. Mostly, because I wonder if it is something like a return to the moon that could be our best hope for saving ourselves and our planet.

We need perspective, to remind ourselves just how tiny, this, our home planet is in a universal context. It is small, fragile, and so very vital to our survival as a species. Yet it seems that we don't value it, or each other anywhere near as much as we should. If we could see our planet from the moon, small enough that you could blot it out with your thumb, perhaps then we may come to realise that we need to start treating it and each other with an appropriate amount of respect and that we have to start sharing it more thoughtfully with all of our fellow inhabitants.

There are many ridiculous arguments about economical effects and the rest. I feel that if there is a plausible risk that we are poisoning the planet sufficiently to make it uninhabitable, then that risk is too much, and we shouldn't be quibbling about the minutiae of it. We should aim to make our world safer and better for all. A renewed space programme could create a lot of jobs, potentially. Both directly and indirectly through technology spin offs. I would argue that it is possibly more cost effective than baling out investment banks that should be allowed to fail. In addition, nowadays you could get a lot more buy-in from commercial interests without necessarily jeopardising the scientific worth of the missions. 

Without a viable planet, money is not a lot of good. Indeed, anything that made humanity focus more on the plight of the planet and its inhabitants and less on the artificial construct that is money would be welcome. I don't believe for a minute that we will achieve even a fraction of what I hope for, perhaps we can get just enough.

Fact is, if we let the planet die by our actions or inaction, there will be no "standard of living", no industry, no economy - there will be no human race to create or need them.