WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN By Dr. Allan Forrestall, Ph.D., NASA July 20, 1999 Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, when American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on our nearest celestial neighbor. Many of us hoped that this marked something more than the achievement of a goal set by a beloved President, but rather the start of an even longer journey. It is easy, looking back now, to forget the tremendous effort involved in placing these two Americans, and the many that followed, on the Moon. It is even easier to forget that the moon race, as it was then called, was a matter of competition between ideologies. Like the generation before us that went to war against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, the space race was a battle between democracy and communism. We believed, that by placing Americans on the moon, we would be defending our freedoms—our way of life. We were right. Winning the race to the moon secured the American lead in space. The strategic political and economic spinoffs could have secured America’s democracy for many generations to come. But then the failures came, starting with Apollo 13 and Skylab. With our national conscience already weakened by the disastrous experience in Vietnam, and further battered by the machinations of resource-rich OPEC nations, it was easy to convince ourselves to look inwards and to focus on the problems here, on Earth. Space was too expensive. And so, we abandoned the lead. Did we really think that because we ceased our journey, others would not take it up? Did we really believe that space was too far away—too unimportant—to be of any concern to America or its children? The truth is there before us, and yet we do not want to see it. European spacecraft regularly violate American airspace. American spacecraft are unable to launch without coordination with the World Space Commission and its puppets, the Earth Orbit Authority and International Lunar Finance Commission.. The international Moonbase project has closed off the moon from commercial exploitation by American corporations. Patents and intellectual property in space science are regularly expropriated by the WSC and International Astronomical Committee—for the good of all humanity. The simple truth is that the Cold War is over, and America has lost. We surrendered the high ground, and with it, our ideals. Had America been able to maintain dominance in space, we would have been able to continue to propagate the ideals contained within our Bill of Rights, rather than seeing them eroded on a daily basis. Now, we must bow towards the European ideals, watching what we say, how or even if we worship, and with whom we assemble. Restrictions that would have been unthinkable for our fathers and grandfathers are now accepted as a matter of course. As Americans, we are taught to be ashamed of our heritage, of who we are. We used to brag about American Ingenuity putting men on the moon. Now, we have to admit that we couldn’t keep it and that others have it. But by doing so, we denigrate the tremendous effort of the Apollo 11 project, and all those that followed. Perhaps the Americans working with the World Space Commission ought to consider whether they are truly making a contribution to humanity. What does it profit the human race reach towards the stars when, in the process, we destroy the greatest political invention humanity has ever known? Do we lose democracy for the dubious privilege of sharing in the spread of statism among the stars? If we permit this to happen, Americans will then truly have something to be ashamed of.