Lunar Landing: 40th anniversary

“That’s one small step for man, *static*, one big leap for mankind.”

These famous words have been etched into our memories as one of the most outstanding achievements that man has accomplished, the first landing on the moon. Since millennia long past, great philosophers and scientists ranging from Galileo, Michelangelo, Leonardo and such, have dreamed of one day setting a real, living human being on the great bright globe that hangs in our night sky. And their wish was fulfilled, albeit a little past their time, on July 20^th, 1969, when Neil Armstrong set his first steps on the moon.

It was a great moment, greater perhaps than the historical win by Barack Obama, the first black man ever to clinch victory in the presidential election of the United States. Imagine the soaring emotion of the world, the collective glory felt by people from all corners of the globe, as they watched a man step on the earth. You’d have to remember that this was a time when black and white TV just came on the scene. TV itself was already such a great achievement; watching a man on the moon on TV must have seemed like a miracle.

The space race also transcended all barriers of time, race, and politics. Space was the most neutral topic of them all - after all, did anybody own space? In a time where people fought over almost everything, from the way women dressed to the artificial border lines, the space race was like a competition where everybody could focus whole-heartedly on achieving the goal, not get mixed up in side issues. It also united everyone, from the Russians, to the Americans, to the Australians, because everyone could connect to the dream that man would one day, finally, reach the dark craters of the moon.

But there are people who, even to this day, claim that the whole lunar landing was a hoax. How could man possibly reach the moon when the television was just invented? Indeed, the whole idea seems a little ludicrous to the average person, and nobody could have faulted them for carrying their doubts. The motive for such widespread deceit was certainly there, as the Russians were also desperately trying to land their men on the moon first. If the Americans felt like they had no hope, what was there to stop them from creating the perfect video? Plus, the then president had made a goal to put a man on the moon in ten years...and he did it in nine. A little too coincidential, per se?

Then there’s the issue about the footprint. The footprint in the photo seemed to leave a deep impression, something critics say would not have happened in the dry, waterless sand on the surface of the moon. There’s also the doubt over how the video looked like it was recorded on fast forward. Lastly, the greatest conspiracy theory of them all was about how the flag shouldn’t have waved so much in the airless atmosphere of the moon. So many theories, and NASA still isn’t able to back them up with proof. What would you have believed?

Still, for all the things the critics have to say, there’s no doubt that the space race was a positive event which happened in the midst of a crumbling world. It restored hope, passion; a sense of purpose in people who had resigned themselves to a routine life. Even if it was false, it sure brought a lot of good to this world. And now, in the coming 40^th anniversary of the lunar landing, let us salute the men and women who made all this possible, and the spirit of unity which made such a big leap for mankind.