In 1962, when President John F. Kennedy spoke at Rice University in Houston, Texas, challenging Americans to go to the moon, he used the timeline of advancement to make his argument.
Compress human history’s accomplishments to just 50 years, and you could see how quickly things moved, he rhapsodized.
“Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America’s new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight,” Kennedy said. “This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.”
That was 62 years ago. It took seven years to put the first men on the moon after that speech. Six times, NASA sent astronauts into space and set them on the surface of the moon. Twelve men in all took those steps, including Pittsburgh native Pete Conrad. Just four — Buzz Aldrin, David Scott, Charles Duke and Harrison Schmitt — are still alive.
But it has been more than 51 years since an American lunar landing mission took off — until Monday morning when Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine Mission One launched.
Space has been an increasingly lucrative and commercial activity in recent years, especially popular with billionaires like Elon Musk (Space X), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic). But Astrobotic, if ultimately successful, could do more than just accomplish the first commercial moon landing. It could be a uniquely egalitarian one.
Astrobotic is based where it was born, in Carnegie Mellon’s backyard. It is not owned by Forbes’ richest but predominantly by its employees.
Kennedy’s speech pushed the potential of both educational institutions like Rice and the boom of industry he foresaw from the space program.
“I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America,” he said.
On Monday, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato echoed that, saying, “I love that Pittsburgh is leading the way in the next era of space science, exploration and commerce.”
Problems with propulsion after launch make a Peregrine moon landing unlikely, but that doesn’t change the loftiness of the goal or the importance of the effort. From the Pioneer mission of 1958 to the present, more than 70 lunar-related missions by American, Soviet, Russian, Japanese, Israeli and Arab organizations have failed. They made the successes possible.
They also underscore what Kennedy knew in 1962, when he admitted to the failures, the difficulty and the challenge of reaching for the moon. It’s up to today’s scientists and industry to try again.