Radio

It cost a fortune to go to the Moon. But humanity was never more united

Celebrating its 50th anniversary on the specially renamed Infinite Moonkey Cage, Robin Ince is overwhelmed by the human aspect of the first Moon landing.

On July 16, I stood on Cocoa Beach in Florida and looked across the water. Fifty years previously, the Saturn V rocket took off from there, propelling Mike Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin towards the moon. I was there to record an episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage for Radio 4, renamed The Infinite Moonkey Cage for one show only because if a pun is possible, BBC guidelines insist on it.

A few minutes later, I was sat in a small hotel conference room with Gerry Griffin, an Apollo flight director, Rusty Schweickart of Apollo 9, and Andy and Jan Aldrin, children of Buzz. Though the show was broadcast on the anniversary of the lunar landing, this was not a discussion dominated by nostalgia, a revelling in the past of “one small step”, it was as much about our future.

For Schweickart, the greatest Apollo achievement was not the first footprint on the moon, it was three missions back, when Apollo 8 took the photograph that became known as Earthrise.

Commander of the mission, Frank Borman, had told his crew he didn’t want anyone looking out of the window. William Anders and Jim Lovell slyly took turns to peer at the Earth. Catching sight of the Earthrise, Anders asked for the camera. Borman insisted that no photograph should be taken, but Anders ignored that. Many now consider it the most important photograph ever taken.

It was an inspiration for the environmental movement. It gave humanity a sense of the fragility of their home. Though taken from a parochial distance considering the size of the solar system, let alone the Milky Way, it showed a planet with no signs of the borders that limit human thinking to tribal proportions. The resonance remains – now is a good time to be reminded of it.

Gil Scott-Heron’s poem, Whitey on the Moon, questioned the money spent so humans could get to the moon when people in poverty where dying from simple needs of medicine. Somewhere in those lunar missions though, there is another message, a message not just of technical ambition and future interplanetary possibilities.

Though the Apollo missions were politically driven by a need to beat the Soviet Union, when the astronauts returned and travelled the world, people of many nations said to them, “WE have been to the moon.” The achievement usurped American nationalism and became a human achievement. Somewhere in these space-flight ambitions, there may be a message of unity, too, though perhaps that will only truly occur when we are brought together by fear of an asteroid strike like the one that did for the dinosaurs.

In Arthur C Clarke’s short story The Sentinel, inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey, there is an obelisk placed on the moon by extraterrestrials. Should a nearby species venture from its planet and make contact with this obelisk, it means they have an ambition that makes it worthy of contact. Looking at much of our discourse now, I think you might understand why the aliens haven’t visited yet. They may be waiting until we look a little more hospitable.

One of the sweetest, and most human memories of the first walk on the moon came from Andy Aldrin. I asked Andy how he felt as an 11-year-old watching his dad on the moon. He was worried. It was not the worry of whether his dad would come back or if there would be a catastrophic accident. As he watched him bouncing on the moon, he noticed a cable near his feet and thought, ‘I hope my dad doesn’t trip over while he’s on the moon, everyone is watching. I’ll never hear the last of it at school.’

Can’t being human be wonderful some days?

The Infinite Moonkey Cage is on BBC iPlayer now 

Support the Big Issue

For over 30 years, the Big Issue has been committed to ending poverty in the UK. In 2024, our work is needed more than ever. Find out how you can support the Big Issue today.
Vendor martin Hawes

Recommended for you

View all
Rick Edwards: 'I assumed I'd embrace being famous. I quickly realised that wasn't the case'
Rick Edwards
Letter To My Younger Self

Rick Edwards: 'I assumed I'd embrace being famous. I quickly realised that wasn't the case'

BBC cuts to local radio are a cost we cannot afford: 'Vulnerable people rely on radio'
A 1970s radio
Radio

BBC cuts to local radio are a cost we cannot afford: 'Vulnerable people rely on radio'

Shaun Keaveny: 'I was burnt out by the callousness and cruelty of this government'
Shaun Keaveny in a white t-shirt, smiling
Interview

Shaun Keaveny: 'I was burnt out by the callousness and cruelty of this government'

Danny Robins on the return of Uncanny: ghostly monks, poignant poltergeists and famous UFOs
Danny Robins, the man behind Uncanny
ghosts

Danny Robins on the return of Uncanny: ghostly monks, poignant poltergeists and famous UFOs

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know