The lunatic space race

The 1960s brought in the Beatles, drugs, long hair, hippy communes, eastern gurus and the alternative culture, so called. Against all this was the ‘straight’ world whose denizens were short-haired Frank Sinatra fans in suits. The two types seemed quite different from each other, but one thing they had in common was their obsession with fanatastical notions. The alternatives were into UFOs, ley lines, psychic healing and whatnot, while the straights believed in flying to the moon and founding colonies or military bases in outer space. And since the men in suits had the power and the money, they were in a position to realise their fantasies. In 1969 an American rocket deposited two men on the moon’s surface. The first, Neil Armstrong, recited his ‘giant step for mankind’ line, while Buzz Aldrin performed the ritual of Holy Communion. They then raised the stars and stripes flag which, though there is no air on the moon, mysteriously fluttered, and returned safely to earth. In subsequent flights ten other astronauts made lunar landings, but that was the end of the game. Its main purpose, to beat the Russians in the race to the moon, had been achieved. The astronauts were paid off and space travel gave way to other fads.

That is more or less how Gerard DeGroot tells the story. He is a Californian professor of history and, judging by his photograph, hardly old enough to remember the space age. But he has researched it thoroughly, not just the events that led up to the moon landing but the ponderous ‘man’s destiny’ type of rhetoric that went with it. He has a good ear for anecdotes and his narrative is highly amusing, sometimes barely believable. There was never any practical reason for putting a man on the moon.