Joseph Hansen on moon landing

Read issue here:

http://themilitant.com/1969/3331/MIL3331.pdf

Joseph Hansen:

The age-old fantasy of reaching the moon 

finally became a reality. The feat consti-

tutes a major milestone in the history of 

mankind, particularly the development of 

science. 

Watching the coverage of the event on 

television, who could fail to be impressed 

by the technological level that has now 

been reached? 

First of all, that man's first steps on 

another planet could be viewed by millions 

of persons all around our own globe 

at the very moment these steps were taken 

would hardly have been credible only a 

few years ago. This advance itself is one 

of the fantastic consequences of the space 

age with its Telestar relay system. 

Equally remarkable was the display of 

reliability, not to mention clarity in voice 

and image, of the communications system 

linking the astronauts with their Houston 

base. How much depended on this can be 

judged by what would have happened to 

Armstrong and Aldrin after they landed 

if a single link in this system had failed. 

Even more impressive was the revela-

tion of the sophistication reached in the 

computers that carried out the continual 

calculations as to the orbits and rendez-

vous of the two space ships. Hardly born, 

the computer is already automated, mini-

aturized, coupled with radar and brought 

to a level of dependability that spoke for 

itself in the Apollo 11 mission. 

As to the power of the jet engines, this 

met all the requirements long laid down 

by the better science-fiction writers. 

Perhaps the most outstanding feature 

of the entire mission was its superb orga-

nizational level- at least this was what 

struck many Americans, who incline to 

be connoisseurs of the organizational side 

of human endeavors, ranging from the 

performance of teams in the field of sports 

to work forces numbering in the tens and 

hundreds of thousands. 

Most of the labor in the Apollo 11 mission 

went into planning and preparation, the 

actual mission representing only a live 

performance of drills already performed 

thousands of times. The contrast to ex-

ploration in previous centuries was strik-

ing, a convenient gauge happening to be 

available in the news about the failure of 

Thor Heyerdahl's attempt to cross the 

Atlantic in a papyrus-reed boat. 

The truth is, of course, that an enter-

prise of the scope of this one -like the 

successful production of the atomic bomb-

is beyond the capacity of private enter-

prise. Only a government could assemble 

500,000 persons, allot $24 billion, make 

available the resources of the Army, Navy, 

and Air Force in a concentrated effort 

of such breadth for almost a decade. Which 

does not mean, of course, that it was not 

a highly profitable business for the compa-

nies that got the contracts. An accounting 

on this would be highly revealing....

Hansen concludes:

....What can be achieved through central-

ized organization and the application of 

scientific knowledge has been shown in a 

way that will sink deep into the conscious-

ness of the masses. 

Why can't similar organization and 

scientific knowledge be applied to make 

our everyday lives more secure and liv-

able? If we can go to the moon, why can't 

we assure food for everyone? Provide de-

cent housing? Adequate medical services? 

Guaranteed yearly incomes? An end to war? 

It is now all the harder for the powers 

that be to dismiss such questions as uto-

pian. They proved that itwas even possible 

to go to the moon! 

Before too long science may thus have 

its revenge on those who have diverted 

it to inhuman ends-to profit-making at 

the expense of human needs, to mass 

murder, to the construction of fiendish 

weapons capable of exterminating man-

kind. 

New layers of humanity will now see 

in a more vivid way how insane capi-

talism has become and what a world 

could be built if the technological base 

humanity has constructed could be placed 

at the disposal of the people and utilized 

in accordance with rational planning. 

The most important feature of the Apollo 

11 triumph may yet be the impact it has 

on bringing man, the tool-making animal, 

to realize that he has become sufficiently 

skilled with tools, and that now he must 

master his social and economic relations 

if he is not to perish from what the tool 

has become.