One Giant Leap For Mankind

"We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars... now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt"
- Interstellar (2014)

Today's the big day! 50 years ago on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong took humanity's first steps on the moon, uttering the immortal words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 carried the hopes and dreams of our entire species, and we fittingly commemorate this anniversary

These images simply need no caption

But while the world celebrates, I can't help but view this milestone as bittersweet; in every news outlet today, you'll find pictures of Neil and Buzz exploring the magnificent desolation of the moon, the spacecraft Columbia and Eagle sailing the vast darkness of space, our American flag proudly planted on the lunar surface. You don't need my space blog to relive past glory. Instead, I have a different compilation of pictures to share with you, an album called "Abandoned in Place" by Roland Miller that strikingly captures the unused launchpads and decaying NASA facilities that symbolize the decline of our space program since the moon landings

Rusted, decrepit, abandoned after the success of Apollo - how did the public lose interest in space so fast?

Here's the cold hard truth - as a society, we simply don't care that much about space. Even at the height of the Apollo Program, only about half of Americans supported it, so once we beat the Soviets, why keep spending? Now, after decades confined to Earth orbit, NASA promises to return to the moon by 2024, but the program is woefully underfunded and rocket is years behind schedule. In fact, NASA can't even launch our own astronauts anymore; we've been piggybacking off 50-year-old Russian rockets for the last 8 years! And trust me, our former rivals haven't fared well either... their space program is plagued by corruption, and they lost Baikonur Cosmodrome (their equivalent of Cape Canaveral, in Kazakhstan) after the fall of the Soviet Union. Just imagine what would happen to the US space program if Florida and Texas seceded!

The Space Shuttles are all retired, relegated to museum displays

So why am I reluctant to celebrate today's 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, you ask? Because I know that come tomorrow, most people will simply move on with their lives and forget about the boundless possibilities beyond our fragile planet. Because I feel that the moon landings were the achievements of my parents' and grandparents' era, and that my generation has lost sight of the stars above. After Apollo, every new astronaut class came in convinced they'd be the ones to walk on Mars, and every one of them left disappointed. Of the 12 men who walked on the moon, only 4 are still alive - Neil Armstrong died in 2012, and my all-time favorite astronaut Alan Bean (Apollo 12) died last year. They all died incredulous that we never returned, watching as human spaceflight languished and we failed to follow the cosmic paths they trailblazed. Pretty soon the rest of the moonwalkers will be gone, and every living human being will once again be chained to the Earth

The Apollo 11 crew in 2011. Buzz Aldrin (left) is now 89 years old, Michael Collins (center) is 88. Neil Armstrong is gone :'(

Ever since I started Astronomical Returns, I've had people ask me, "Hans, what motivates you to write so much? Where does your passion for space come from?" I really don't know, it's one of those things you're just born with. All I know is it's important to me that the world realizes our planet is made better by our endeavors beyond it. I write because if I don't share my passion, who else will do it for me? Two whole generations are alive now with no recollection of the moon landings - my dad is 58, and he says he can barely remember a thing. If no one cares, soon enough it'll be the 100th anniversary of Apollo 11, I'll be 73 years old, and the moon will remain as distant as ever

But I have faith in humanity - we are explorers and dreamers at heart, and the Universe calls to each and every one of us. Our ancestors looked up at the night sky and saw their gods and heroes in the heavens; today we very much do the same, only now we have the potential to reach them. Whether we do so is up to us

I still believe I'll live to witness mankind take its rightful place among the stars


  1. I really like this post Hans - very poignant and from the heart. I am sure during our lifetime mankind will return to space - just wait til space tourism hits.

  2. Nice post Hans. I hope we see mankind go back to space

  3. We still send people to Earth orbit - the International Space Station has been continuously occupied since like 2000. But no one has gone to the moon since 1972