Managing Essentials

International Our moon

Neil Armstrong died recently aged 82, 43 years after he was the first human to step, and later walk on the moon. Monday, July 21, 1969 was the day Armstrong climbed down the stairs of landing craft Eagle from Apollo 11 and transmitted back to Earth those words which would become legendary, "Thats one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind". The transmission was technically hampered so that the status of the a was under discussion for a long time afterwards. Some moments later Armstrong hoisted the American flag thereby claiming victory in the fierce competition for predominance in space, which had started just 12 years earlier when the beeps of the Russian Sputnik shocked the Western hemisphere. Not too many have added their footsteps in the past decades since 1969 with only 11 astronauts having walked the moons surface after Armstrong. The last of them left the moon in 1972 and no cosmonaut has since followed their example. Apollo 11s flight and its preparations inspired science fiction literature, which was a major genre in the Eastern and the Western world at the time and some years ago parts of the moons territory were sold on the Internet. The Western hemisphere sights are now set on planet Mars as the next step in exploring outer space, and in the month Armstrong died, a robot vehicle, Curiosity sent impressive pictures from this planets rough surface. Manned spaceflight has been replaced by space stations circling earth close enough to be seen in clear nights. For some it is a nice hobby to spot space stations in the night, but there is the question about what these people are doing in the station besides demonstrating that it is possible to be there. No doubt, they are busy conducting scientific experiments but only a few, if any have led to revolutionary findings to enrich life on earth. In 2004, NASA published a paper listing the innovations inspired by the Apollo program from Teflon fabric to the cordless vacuum cleaner. However, from probably the most costly peacetime public project in US history some spinoff had to be expected. In a comparative analysis Deborah Stine outlined that the US$ 25 bn spent on it compares to approximately US$ 100 bn adjusted for inflation in 2010. The landing on the moon was primarily a political victory in a world believing that the qualities of an ideology express themselves in the technologies they give to their people. According to Paul Koring, the small step was a giant blow to the Soviet Union. The missions success as a public event matched the costs. At the time, out of a world population of about 3.6 bn, 450 million people watched the landing live, a record in unified world attention that is still valid today. The astronauts found nothing on the moon to provide future journeys with a commercial incentive, but the ego boost to Western societies was so impressive that the landing was honored by becoming a prime target for conspiracy theorists stating that it happened inside the studios of Hollywood, a claim not even made by the then archrival Soviet Union. Shortly after the political goal of the US flag being on the moon was achieved, the program was put on track for being phased out and Apollos 18 to 20 were cancelled. For space missions in general their practical utility came to a real test when the Communist World disintegrated and the military side lost some importance. All countries with the exception of China slashed their space programs, and continue to do so. The year of Armstrongs death was also the one in which the US Space Shuttle

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Discovery made its last scheduled flight, heading for a museum attached to an airplane. In hindsight, the moon landing did not provide as Armstrong had hoped, a platform for further manned missions into outer space. The greatest leap was the landing, not what would come afterwards. Many commentators like Martin Reese agree on this assessment but criticism about the program being a waste of money remains very rare. This positive undertone is not only due to the fact that all this is now long ago. Even today, the Apollo program serves as an example of how much can be achieved in a short time span with nascent technologies. There is tremendous respect for those men and later women who pioneered space exploration. Armstrong and his Apollo 11 colleagues were antecedents of those individuals with Armstrong especially having demonstrated his courage and discipline, already part of his earlier career as a pilot. The project also stands for all the muddling through and workarounds often necessary to achieve higher goals. Certainly, a lot of money was spent but this was necessary because many essentials of our daily life were not available at that time. The legendary Apple II computer surpassed the processing power aboard an Apollo spacecraft. The inventions in the area of ceramics and fibers may not be very impressive nowadays and some of them would probably have emerged even without space programs, but they show how many different and small details had to be adhered to. Taking all these factors into account, the project stands for human pioneering at its best. Finally, the landing may have been a public relations event for the Western hemisphere in the late 1960s, but it also broadened the horizon for everybody in this world. If the Astronauts had not already visited the moon, many people all over the world would most likely have proposed to go there. Not for rich minerals or to claim a territory but to demonstrate that humankind can do it. By stepping on the moon Armstrong made possession for humankind and converted the moon to our moon. The psychological dimension of making an object part of our extended selves cannot be achieved by technical devices alone, the human touch is needed. The pictures we currently receive from Mars are much better than those transmitted from the moon, but as long as it is only a robot exploring the surface no real contact is made for most people. Public interest is consequently limited and many are more interested in the haircut of one of the human engineers directing the vehicles course than in the actual pictures it transmits. But again billions of people will most likely sit in front of their televisions to see, for a change, the first woman putting her foot on Mars. Since the moon explorations manned spaceflight is not an idea but a sleeping potential. What Armstrong gave us was a new perspective. In contrast to previous generations we look at our moon knowing we have been there and could go there again. This fact makes the moon not only a bit different but also reminds us of what can be achieved if there is a will to do it.
Benefits from Apollo: Giant leaps in technology (NASA) www.managing-essentials.com/2jw The Manhattan Project, the Apollo Program, and Federal Energy Technology R&D Programs: A Comparative Analysis (Deborah D. Stine) www.managing-essentials.com/2jx Neil Armstrong: since his small step, spaceflight has lost its glamour (Martin Rees) www.managing-essentials.com/2jy

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International
The small step for Neil Armstrong was a giant blow to the Soviet Union (Paul Koring) www.managing-essentials.com/2jz