July 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 55CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MARIO DE BIASI
Getty Images
(press corps
); NASA (
Armstrong
);
GETTY IMAGES (Aldrin onboard); NASA (lunar module in orbit); ALAMY (Aldrin on lunar surface)lunar surface by 2024, the public reaction was incredulity. But the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 reminds us
that this laughably ambitious goal has in fact already been proved doable—on a short deadline, at a time
when computers were the size of rooms, the U.S. was losing the war in Vietnam, women were marching in
the streets for equality, and African-Americans were fighting, often sacrificing their lives, for the right to be
treated as full human beings.
People often remember the time of the moon landing as one of the country’s finest moments, an age when
things were simpler, better, more hopeful. Yet Apollo 11 was not the embodiment of a grand era—it was a tes-
tament to the fact that we can do great things in terrible times. That even when we are struggling, when our
country is divided and our world is scary, we should chase big dreams. Apollo 11 showed us, just when we
needed it, the best of humanity. Now, when our planet is facing similar strife, we could really use another
moon shot, whether we go back to the moon or not. — Clara Moskowitz1969APOLLO 11ANNIVERSARY2019
50
yearsJUST AFTER coming
inside the lunar module
after their moon walk,
Aldrin took this photo of
an elated Armstrong.ALDRIN deploys
the Passive Seismic
Experiment on the moon.MEMBERS OF THE PRESS watch Apollo 11’s
liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center.ONBOARD THE
LUNAR MODULE, Aldrin
listens in on his headset.EARTH hangs over the
moon as the lunar module
flies over the surface.