What We Can Learn From Apollo 11 in 2020
Recently, amidst all the feelings of inner turmoil and uncertainty the year 2020 has brought all of us, I have found it comforting to think back on the date July 16th, 1969, the date three American men: Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong, changed the way we have thought about ourselves and the universe that surrounds us. Even during the late 1960’s and early 70’s — some of America’s most tumultuous years to date — an event took place that for a brief moment erased political, religious, and national borders, and unified us as we stood in collective awe at the prospect of humanity setting foot on another heavenly body. Coming into contact with something greater than ourselves. It is my belief that we too, the lot of us stuck in this whirlwind of a year, can look beyond ourselves, and find unification in this act.
Neil Armstrong, the man who will forever be known as the first human to step foot on the moon, contained much more complexity and nuance than the history books may teach. Though there is much to be admired and learned from all three men who participated in that fateful mission, Armstrong is, to me, the most fascinating soul.
From a very young age, he had a single passion: flight. When he was around five years old, his father took him to a local airfield in their town of Warren, Ohio, to ride on The Tin Goose, an airplane designed in 1925 by the aeronautical division of the Ford Motor Company.
Aided by a machine created through the combination of physics, engineering, and mathematics, it is here that Armstrong first fell in love with the prospect of flying machines and all the possibilities they held within their metallic frames. The rest, as they say, is history.
From model airplanes to Purdue University, to flying in the Korean War as a photo reconnaissance pilot, to a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, and finally, his years as a NASA astronaut, Armstrong sought to achieve his goals by any and all means, never wavering in his efforts to do so. He was a man of clear thought and language, of logic and science, and the true epitome of an engineer.
However, like many men of his generation, Neil was stoic in his younger years, and consistently seemed to hold emotion at an arm's-length away. This was, in part, due to the unfortunate death of his daughter, Karen, who died from complications of an aggressive brain tumor at the age of two. Later in life, Armstrong himself would admit this had a profound effect on his emotional and mental state at the time. Of course, there is another reason for his stoicism and emotional detachment.
When a society reaches a certain level of economic and sociological stability, there develops in some of us the need to explore, to look beyond ourselves and seek to understand the perplexing mechanisms of the world, simply because we have the resources and privilege to do so. Astronauts, are of course, pitch-perfect examples and byproducts of this effort.
But, because of the blatant and undeniable dangers astronauts face as a result of their extraterrestrial pursuits, an astronaut must maintain a certain distance from their emotions, in order to keep their minds trained and focused on their mission at hand. These pursuits stem from, after all, not only the desire for self-development and fulfillment, but also from the desire to continuously push the known boundaries of science and human understanding of the reality we inhabit day in and day out. Space exploration, though it can and has been used as a tool for measuring a nation’s technical and political prowess over others, is a task done not only out of curiosity and wanderlust, but for the betterment of all mankind.
Though Armstrong’s stoicism and emotional detachment would eventually play a part in the downfall of his first marriage with Janet, and can easily be seen as major character flaws, it was these same attributes that allowed him and his colleagues to achieve their missions in space, and to accomplish a feat that has truly never been replicated since.
This period in our history as a species brings to light one honorable, glowing trait: our ability to pursue a single, selfless goal, even with the racial and social turmoil of the the time, many of which are still plaguing us today. As a consequence of the political and economic climate in 2020, I am of the belief that we are losing sight of all the things that bind us together, and instead focusing on everything that divides us.
Now, don’t misunderstand. Am I saying we need to be a stoic, emotionally-distant society to accomplish great things and better the human race?
No.
I am simply using the mindset of astronauts and the Apollo 11 mission to illustrate my point that we are capable of unification, not only as a United States, but as human beings.
I know I don’t need to say it, but 2020 has been an awful year. All across the world, the Coronavirus is running rampant and upsetting every societal norm countries have built over the last hundred years. As a consequence of the racial injustice and police brutality taking place in the United States, many of the world’s nations have raised an uproar, in an effort to rid the world once again of racial bias and discrimination. On top of this, there are the weekly shootings and religiously-motivated killings happening in countries all over the planet.
Here in the US, the 2020 Presidential elections weigh heavy on the minds of every US citizen, as well as the citizens of others. Seeing as the US is one of the leading powers of the free world, this election holds weight in every country, and depending on the outcome, tips the scales of the world one way or the other. It could, even, move the Doomsday clock closer to midnight.
Right now, we need the mindsets of people like Neil Armstrong, Dr. King, JFK, Susan B. Anthony, Maya Angelou , and the astronauts — people who spoke and acted not only for the betterment of themselves and their loved ones, but for the benefit of our species as a whole.
During this time, all anger is valid. All sadness is valid. All anxiety is valid. All fear is valid. Racism is still alive and ever present. Bigotry and injustices can be seen everywhere. Hatred and distrust is dispersed as commonly and easily as money. We are quick to judge, quick to hurt, quick to manipulate and quick to attack. No one person has the answers to our problems, because solutions of this scale are not solved by one of us, but by all of us.
Placing a man on the moon in 1969 was a collective effort full of trepidation, fear, and anxiety, but with footnotes of hope and faith in the potential of man. The problems we face today are no different. Pandemics are solved by all, not the few. Racism is impeded by all, not the few. The improvement of a country is an act requiring the momentum and action of every citizen. The improvement of a world requires all of its inhabitants to stand up, and to know that unification and brotherhood is possible, as long as we can look outside ourselves and turn our heads towards something greater than the sum of our parts.
I would argue that this is the responsibility inherent to the human race. I hope I’m right, because it’s the only option we have left.
