Moon Landing: Fact or Fiction?

Monday 19th November 2018 09:46 EST
 

Recently prominent personality raised doubt on moon landing on TV chat show. The landing happened in 1969 stirring my memory of this unbelievable achievement that caught imagination of the world. When we were in America on holidays, few decades back, I watched an interesting discussion on the subject. The experts were hopelessly divided, those who believed it happened and a small but significant number believed it to be a hoax, orchestrated from NASA’s Nevada base where Earth topography resembles that of the Moon.

As it was space race between America, under dynamic President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Union under Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, there was unity among all political divide in US that would prevent any such speculations. It was an incessant self-promotion with every one toying party line. After all America’s prestige was at stake!

As USSR beat USA when it put first satellite, sputnik, in orbit in 1958, then manned flight, President Kennedy declared ten year plan to land an astronaut on Moon by 1970, developing powerful Saturn V rocket capable of flying to Mars! President Kennedy achieved his aim two years earlier than planned, although he was not there to see it happened. Neil Armstrong was the first astronaut to set foot on the moon surface. Who can forget this heart-throbbing spectacle we watched all night live on TV, a small step for men but a giant leap for mankind, drawing the biggest TV audience ever?

Although it was followed by more landings, American people soon lost interest, once America beat, eclipsed USSR and the whole programme was abandoned, as funding for NASA was cut to the bone. What puzzles everyone is that this was God send opportunity for USA to dominate the world by building Moon base for further exploration of universe, as well as for military purpose. Due to Moon’s low gravity, it is much easier and cheaper to launch rockets to far flung corners of universe, even landing a man on Mars, that was the ultimate aim. Instead, even after fifty years when we are so far ahead in technology, US is unable to put satellite in orbit, instead depending on India and Russia to launch commercial satellites, although this is a temporary setback.

The next astronaut to land on Moon will be Chinese, according to experts. China will not stop there. It will conquer and colonize Moon, building base for military use that will be detrimental for the world peace. It will be in the interest of the West to help India to match China in space race, as Indian technology is well advanced and much cheaper, less cumbersome than that of Russia and China.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi

Via email


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