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“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”

That wasn’t just political opining either. John F. Kennedy, the last great leader the United States had, didn’t just say it. He meant it. And the American people believed it. The Russians certainly believed it — they were trying pretty hard too. Hell, everyone in the World believed it. And on July 20th, 1969 they did it. By the 24th, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins had returned safely to the Earth.

That was thirty-five years ago. They did it with the most simple of computers, the most basic understanding in materials, with only a working knowledge of aerodynamics, and an incomplete understanding of astronautics. They did it without the Internet. They had no 3D computer simulations. There were no Powerpoint slideshows at NASA to explain it. (*ahem*) Just guys doodling on whiteboards and stuff.

The amount of original scientific research, convergence, financing, and organization that needed to go on to make this happen is mind-boggling, even by today’s standards. But yet it happened. So with a 1960s level of technology, a large group of humans decided that they wanted to achieve something that had never been done before. The the stakes were high. So much could go wrong. There was every reason to expect failure. People even died. Said Armstrong afterwards, “Every guy that’s setting up the tests, cranking the torque wrench, and so on, is saying, man or woman, ‘If anything goes wrong here, it’s not going to be my fault.’” They planned it, they hacked it, they worked it, and they did it right.

What balls.

In fact, NASA managed to carry out JFK’s goal six out of seven times. So you can imagine that I’m a little disappointed that our species hasn’t managed to figure out what to do from here. These days it seems to be all about the money, fame, lawsuits, Middle-East, money, markets, IPO, Intellectual Property, and so on… Has the species lost its way? Is there nothing we want to do to challenge ourselves?

Maybe we should look backwards a bit and recall a time when our ancestors had the right stuff and the willpower to use it.