Neil Armstrong & the Moon-We're Missing the Point

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of one of the most inspiring collective human achievements in history. It's etched in our memories or, if we weren't born yet, we all know the famous words behind this achievement: "Tranquility Base. The Eagle has landed," and "That's one small step for man...one giant leap for mankind." More importantly, less than 10 years earlier, a President incredibly challenged our nation "to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade." At the time he uttered those words, there were so many reasons that it couldn't be done. It was impossible, but yet he made the declaration, not because it would be easy, but because it was a challenge.

And on the 40th anniversary of the accomplishment of this impossible feat, the Apollo 11 astronauts were paraded in front of the press. They were guests at the Oval Office, where President Obama praised NASA, fortunately, without getting into specifics about future plans, while at Cape Canaveral these astronauts and their colleagues complained that there should be more support and commitment to go to Mars.

Eugene Cernan, the last astronaut on the moon in 1972, told a news conference at NASA headquarters that the nation could "recapture the kind of spirit" that infused the risk-taking, cutting-edge Apollo program. "We had to accept challenges, we had to be bold, we had to take risks, we had to make sacrifices," Cernan said.

The world's priorities today are very different from what they were in the '60's, but the spirit and example set by NASA and the 30 or so astronauts like Cernan is exactly what the solar tribe should embrace today. There have been numerous blogs comparing the challenge of putting a man on the moon in the '60's to that of bringing our climate under control today. There have also been members of the solar tribe taking action to bring this analogy into the publics conscience. In the blog entry below this one, I have posted a letter from RePower America which plays to the same line of thinking.

The point is: we've done this before. Then it was "man on the moon in 10 years." Today it's "Reduce CO2 dramatically in 10 years." This may not be a universally popular idea at the moment. It may not even seem possible to some. But neither was "putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade" in 1961. And for those of us who remember living through that decade, it wasn't like everybody was a part of the daily effort. There was political will and out of that came lots of jobs and technological breakthroughs that not only made it possible for Armstrong to step onto to the lunar surface that summer of '69, but also changed the way a generation lived, improving the quality of life.

Together, we stand with a passion toward something even more important than "man on the moon." Are we just going to read about it and think about and take no action? What are we waiting for? What have we got to lose? Let's celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 by committing to ourselves and each other to renew the same political will that made that history possible. Political will is a renewable resource and it's up to each one of us to bring it forth.