The Moon

I have an Indonesian essay to write, so naturally I'm blogging because any excuse to be occupying my mind elsewhere is good enough for me. I have nothing to talk about either so here's a rant about space.

I loved all things space travel when I was younger. I don't know why, but I used to watch documentaries about the Space Race and the billions of dollars spent by various governments in reaching the stars. One thing that seems almost tragic now is how most of what that money went towards was jettisoned into space as soon as each mission cleared the Earth's atmosphere. Those poor tax payers. Still - at least it got us to the moon. And to all those conspiracy theorists who claim otherwise, I don't believe anything you to have to say about filming the moon landings in studios on Earth. Also, fuck off.

The first rocket from the Apollo program to land on the moon was Apollo 11. Michael Collins was the guy on that mission who didn't actually get to walk on its surface. It was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who did. The guy doesn't even have a memorable name. The other two are burned into my mind, but I had to look his up for this blog because I keep forgetting it. Anyway he said that the time when he was in lunar orbit while the other two got to romp around on the surface sending their thoughts back to Earth was one of the greatest experiences of his life. I can't imagine that. The only thing I can imagine feeling is loneliness in that cold, dark, silent vacuum of space floating above a grey, pock-marked surface with the knowledge that you are the only person for miles and miles and miles and if something were to go wrong you would die alone, most likely leaving the other two stranded on the moon forever. And it's not like being stranded on an island with plenty of bananas and coconuts to live on until you go mad or get eaten by something. It's the moon - there's only one thing to look at and that's dust. What I'm trying to say is that you'd have that fear of death coupled with an immense pressure to stay alive for the sake of your buddies. Also, not getting to be one of the first humans to walk on the moon is like not getting invited to the greatest party of all time.

I think I'd go insane.

But it seems he must have felt fulfilled to the point of spiritual enlightment and he wrote an autobiography which I'm sure sold almost as many copies as Armstrong's. Also he survived, which is more than can be said for the crew of Challenger...and Columbia...and Apollo 1...

You'd think after all the lives lost and money spent space travel would be as commonplace as public transport, but I suppose it's just a lot harder than it looks.