The New Zealand’s Herald editorial on the significance of the Apollo 11 moon landing 40 years ago today:
AN excerpt: read in full here.
“The Americans achieved their ambition, but at a cost. The budget for space exploration was essentially drained on a project that many scientists insisted from the start was a diversion from the more rewarding possibilities of their programme to push back space barriers. There may have been substance to their view, particularly as the Americans, after a small number of further landings, soon left the moon to its barren self.
“But those scientists failed to appreciate the romantic attraction of the moon landings to the public, and the way this, along with a strong strand of nationalism, prised open cheque-books. With the moon project a success, people struggled to become inspired by the next, essentially scientific, parts of the space programme. Politicians, for their part, had more earthbound concerns. In its own way, the moon landing was something of a dead-end.”
