Scientific American 201907

July 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 55

CLOCKWISE 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  Moskowitz

1969

APOLLO 11

ANNIVERSARY

2019

50

years

JUST 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.