Taylor’s Takes: This country needs another moon landing
In my lifetime, I can’t recall a similar unifying moment. One where the world caught its breath as America’s might became evermore apparent.
Its January 20, 1961. The new, young, charismatic President John F. Kennedy has just given the charge to send Americans to the moon. A mid-century electricity is in the air.
The next eight years are filled with wonderment, awe, and determination as the Space Race speeds toward its climax.
It is now July of 1969. Apollo 11 is in the final stages of countdown. So much is riding on this moment. The Apollo missions have seen both success and disaster. The man who ignited the fire for this race to the moon has now been dead for over five years.
The entire country — the entire world is watching, waiting with bated breath.
3… 2… 1… liftoff!
The enormous Saturn V rocket with three astronauts strapped into a tiny capsule perched atop sluggishly escapes Earth’s surly bonds on its way to touch the face of God.
Days later, the world would once again tune in to watch as the American flag was planted on the moon.
The Space Race was over. America had won. And the country would dine out on this accomplishment for decades to come.
In my home I have hanging on my hallway wall the front page of the New Bedford Standard-Times from July 21, 1969. “AMERICANS MOONWALK,” reads the massive headline with at least four other related stories on both sides of the fold.
I look at that front page every day, imagining what that feeling of pride was like back then. Everyone must have been beaming with pride. You knew why everybody had a smile on their face. Americans must have walked taller and exuded never-before-seen levels of confidence for weeks.
And it was all felt without a sense of division. Going to the moon wasn’t a left versus right issue. Democrats weren’t pitted against Republicans in our endeavor for a brighter future for America. This was a unifying feat. America really was #1, and there was no in-fighting to tarnish that claim.
In my lifetime, I can’t recall a similar unifying moment. One where the world caught its breath as America’s might became evermore apparent.
Some would say the days and weeks following September 11, 2001 are as close as we came to that 1969 vibe. I can see the parallels, but the unification brought on by the terrorist attacks was borne out of grief and resilience, not gleeful pride and innovation.
Watching SpaceX’s Dragon crew this week return home with stranded NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore should have been one of those “we did it” moments. It was an incredible feat. A private company successfully flew to the International Space Station and safely retrieved two astronauts. Simply astounding.
Unfortunately, given the owner of the company’s political alliance, the whole nation did not come together over that moment. Granted, it was no moon landing. But given the circumstances, I couldn’t imagine ever rooting against a successful rescue operation.
A worse commentary on our current state of affairs is that Elon Musk had offered to launch this rescue mission nearly six months ago. The Biden administration scoffed at the idea. They apparently didn’t like the idea of letting a Trump-aligned billionaire receive any accolades for bringing two astronauts back down to Earth.
Unification was denied for the sake of division.
I don’t know what form it’ll take, but we need another “moon landing.”
Whether it’s a cure for cancer or the discovery of a new way of producing cheaper energy, this country needs a unifying shot in the arm.
It certainly won’t come in the form of landing on another planet. Elon has his sights set on that, and I don’t see the political target coming off of his back anytime soon.
I can’t wait to see that, though.
