Apollo 11 splashing down in Pacific on July 24 1969 fulfilled President Kennedy challenge of sending a man to the Moon and safely returning him home. It proved that it is possible for humans to set an ambitious goal and reach it.
Interestingly that goal was set up not from necessity but from the pure spirit of competition. We have a number of challenges on Earth and beyond we as a humankind have to resolve now - from ending senseless bloody wars to overcoming global pollution bringing to the tipping point of irreversible climate change. Sadly, it does not seem to inspire any world leader to take a challenge of "by the end of the decade to end dependency on the fossil fuels" or similar, which would be a great and worthy cause.
45 years ago a young boy back in the Soviet Union proud of Sputnik and Gagarin, dreaming to become a Cosmonaut, read about "Americans" on the Moon and felt devastated and betrayed. Now I feel betrayed again.
Gene Cernan, commander of the last Apollo mission leaves the lunar surface with these words: "We leave as we came and, god willing, as we shall return, with peace, and hope for all mankind." The bootprints of Apollo are still waiting for company...
