Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell. (J. Howell)
WASHINGTON — Even as the only generation of moonwalkers debated how we should bring our space program into the future in a press conference July 20, they agreed on one thing: today’s space program is too little risk, too little return.
Six Apollo astronauts gathered at NASA headquarters here in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, which carried two people to the moon for the first time in 1969.
Quoting from a message from then-Australian prime minister Jack Goldman recorded on a microfilm carried on Apollo 11 — one of 72 such messages — retired astronaut Walt Cunningham said today’s program has lost “the chance of dangerous adventure.”
“You know, the reason we had such a huge debate about the (last) servicing mission to Hubble is they couldn’t get from the Hubble’s orbit to the International Space Station to save their lives if there was some kind of a problem,” said Mr. Cunningham, who flew on Apollo 7 in 1968.
“Now, prior to that time, we had put 88 missions in about the same or similar orbits to the Hubble Space Telescope. And we never once gave a thought to the fact that we had to have some safe haven for them to go to for 30 days so they could send somebody back.
“We need to get to the point,” he continued, “where we are no longer a risk-adverse society and we recognize there are some things in life worth taking a chance for.”
Apollo 10 and Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon in 1972, noted the trajectory of the space program up to the moon landing days had been one of calculated risk, which in the end paid off with a moon landing on the “end of decade” deadline that then-U.S. president John F. Kennedy set in 1961.
“We had to accept challenges. We had to be bold. We had to take risks,” Mr. Cernan said.
The 40th anniversary of the first moon landing has shone the spotlight strongly on these Apollo astronauts for the first time in years. In addition to the press conference held on the morning of July 20, NASA hosted a gala at the National Air and Space Museum that evening that featured a speech from Neil Armstrong, the first man to touch the moon.
Numerous media outlets worldwide have chipped in their remembrances of the event, often citing their own coverage in 1969. For example, the New York Times’ John Noble Wilford painted a visual picture of the crowds and heat he encountered 40 years ago when, as a much younger reporter, he was on hand for the launch of the mighty Saturn V rocket that began Neil Armstrong’s, Buzz Aldrin’s and Michael Collins’ flight to the moon.
Meanwhile, the museum has been the venue of more than a dozen book signings from former astronauts and space historians, including one held yesterday that featured Mr. Collins, Mr. Aldrin and painter/astronaut Alan Bean. The four-hour long book signing attracted so many people that the museum had to cut off the line, leaving some people empty-handed.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, in attendence at the press conference, said he feared there is so much nostalgia attached to the moon landings that other, more worthy targets will be ignored in future space exploration efforts.
As he did the previous night during his speech at the annual National Air and Space Museum’s Glenn Lecture, he advocated an approach to Mars that would include short stays on asteroids, including the one in orbit around Mars itself — Phobos.
With the help of commercial transport services, he said, this goal is well within reach.
“We’ve got a pathway that doesn’t require us to expand our resources, which are precious right now,” he said. “We put $100 million into the space station, and that’s enormous in comparison to what the other nations do. Do we want to put $200 billion into permanance on the moon. or six months on the moon? Why?”
But according to lunar scientists, countered Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, “we barely did anything with the moon.”
“We just stepped on the moon and we spent, at most, three days there,” he said, gesturing towards Eugene Cernan and Charlie Duke, who both did long-duration stays on their missions.
“So if you talk to the scientific community, there’s a lot still to be done on the moon, which is just 240,000 miles away. Now, if you want to look at a national project, one that brings prestige and something to be proud of, and really (for) a consortium of countries, then we want to go to Mars.”
Near the end of the press conference, Mr. Cunningham joked with reporters, “Have you detected the fact that we don’t have a consensus on just about anything?”
As laughter echoed throughout the theatre, Apollo 15 astronaut Dave Scott shot back: “We’ve been that way since the very beginning.”
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