Sunday, July 21, 2019

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.

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