By Samaira Kalia
On a warm, summer day in September ‘62, US President John F. Kennedy stood in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 40,000 young students at Rice University in Texas. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills…” His immortal words set the stage for the US to become the first country to land a person on lunar soil. It’s been over 50 years since the last men walked on the moon, but today, once again mankind is preparing to head back – not only to the Moon – but way beyond.
But how did it all start? It took 70 probes and orbital missions, with their share of ups and downs, before the dream of men landing on the moon was achieved by Apollo 11, in July 1969. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins traveled to the moon on the massive Saturn V – the most powerful rocket that ever made up to that point.
The second manned mission to the Moon was Apollo 12. It launched on a stormy day, and just seconds after lift-off it was struck twice with lightning. Thankfully, nothing was damaged; the mission continued as planned. Apollo 13 wasn’t so lucky. A mid-mission explosion forced the astronauts to circle the moon and use their creativity to survive the journey back to Earth. They even had to use items like duct tape and socks to make a carbon dioxide filter and live in a cold, dark, and cramped space before landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Apollo 14 brought some fun to the moon when astronaut Alan Shepard became the first person to play golf beyond Earth. Apollo 15 introduced the Lunar Roving Vehicle, lovingly called the ‘moon buggy’.
Apollo 17 marked the last time humans walked on the moon. The US stopped any subsequent manned lunar missions due to a lack of government funding to support them.
In the last few years, NASA has re-ignited the excitement for lunar exploration. Artemis 1 launched in November, was unmanned, but Artemis 2, set for November 2024, will carry a crew of four astronauts. Although it won’t land on the surface of the moon, the mission will take humans to the farthest point any human has ever gone, beyond the Moon. In December 2025, Artemis 3, will return humans to the lunar surface for a week of experiments and moonwalks. Artemis 4 is expected to build on the work from Artemis 3.
NASA plans to build a ‘Gateway’ space station orbiting the moon. This station will support lunar missions, conduct scientific research, and serve as a launch point for deep space exploration.
Other countries are also trying to catch up. India has been busy sending unmanned missions as a preparatory step, starting with the first probe – Chandrayaan 1 – back in 2008. It took ten more years for Chandrayaan 2 to be launched, but it crashed before it could land near the south pole on the Moon. India finally managed to achieve this feat with Chandrayaan 3, launched in August. It also carried a moon rover, deployed for scientific studies and research. Just days before Chandrayaan 3’s successful landing, Russia also tried to land Luna-25 near the South Pole, but it was a failure. The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, admitted that the failure of Luna-25 was partly due to the long break in lunar research that followed their last mission to the moon in 1976.
The Chandrayaan 3 rocket
China plans to set up a permanent ‘International Lunar Research Station’ on the moon. A series of robotic missions across the 2020s will serve as the starting point, with the aim for a manned landing before 2030.
The European Union, Canada, UAE, Korea, and Japan are all investing in space research and lunar exploration, but it remains to be seen when, if any, manned missions will be finalized by these countries.
So where are we headed? Chris Hadfield, a former astronaut, once said, “A permanent human research station on the moon is the next logical step…And we have a whole bunch of stuff we have to invent and then test to learn before we can go deeper.” Scientists believe we are well on our way to land the first people on Mars by 2035 and start establishing colonies on the planet. Space exploration is still in its infancy; there are thousands of missions yet to be born, just waiting for our imagination to come alive. As JFK said on that beautiful summer day in 1962, the challenge of space is “one we are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to win!”