A Man On The Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts

Author: Andrew Chaikin, voiced by Bronson Pinchot

Format: All
Source: Purchased
Rated: G

Bookmarks: ⇑⇑⇑⇑⇑

One of my earliest memories is the Apollo 11 landing.  It is one of my strongest memories of all time.  As a kid that grew up in the space age, I have often been mystified at the turn away from space that occurred after Apollo 17, and then again after Challenger and Discovery. We in this modern age often do not realize how many of the things we now take for granted are founded on the technologies first explored in those amazing crafts that tossed man to the moon. Listening to this was a great way to relive that era in my life.  With our modern space race taking off with the privatizing of space pulling the clamor for the moon along, there is a sudden awakening to dream again. I hope it sticks this time.  Let’s hope that Heinlein’s Foundation Series is not true.

The book covers the whole history of the America space program.  It jumps back and forth between the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions as it follows various players through their careers.  There are some great insights into the program.  There was some pre-history to the Mercury program I enjoyed learning about.  No spoilers though…

Part of my dismay with the world is how we walked away from the program.  The primary funding change occurred in shifting NASA dollars to programs for the “War on poverty” that has been a complete failure on the governments part.  To paraphrase “when people can vote themselves money, that is the end of the Republic” – though probably wrongly attributed to Benjamín Franklin (Alexander Fraser Tytler maybe?) the idea is valid.  Because we had to wage a war on poverty that after trillion dollars has changed the poverty rate from about 10% in 1963 to over 14% y 2016 - an increase for those not very good a math – we dropped a space program that laid the groundwork to our modern age. Creating new industries, and increasing our medical abilities, increasing the health of the world.

A Man On the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts

Back to Exploration… There is a human desire for exploration.  I don’t think that we should ONLY explore space.  But there are some great reasons to do so.  Knowing what we know now, shows that at some point we will have an “Earth Shattering Event” whether, by disease or a planetary impact, the Earth is a single point of extinction.  Moving on to the planets, even just in our solar system, that gives our species, the human race, a shot to continue.  There are people that think that humanity should just roll over and die.  They are insane.  There is no question about that.  Any person that desires their own extinction is insane.

Exploring both inner space (the oceans) and outer space, Moon, Mars etcetera, inhabiting those places, will stretch our knowledge and force us to create new things.  Because of a personal desire to get to Mars, Tesla and Solar City drove competition in battery and solar technology.  Solar energy is more affordable and efficient than ever.

The best thoughts are actually in the epilogue of the book.  If you are not sure if you want to read it or not, then get to a store and read the epilogue.  It is an inspiring piece of literature.  Most of the rest of the book is essentially history.  But the inspiration comes from the things we have accomplished because we push ourselves beyond the status quo.