American Lunar Society Founder on 50th Anniversary: 1st Humans Walk on Moon !

     
Historic plaque on the ladder of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), "Eagle," commemorating the first human landing site on the Moon. (Image Sources: NASA, Wikipedia.org: Public Domain)

Editor's Note: Precisely 50 years ago, from the time of the posting of this blog-post, NASA's Apollo 11 spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 9:32 a.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time (EDT) / 13:32 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on Wednesday, 1969 July 16. Four days later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would become the first humans to step onto another world, the Earth's Moon. The following is a brief essay regarding the historical and scientific significance of the Apollo 11 mission, as well as possible reasons no crewed mission has returned to the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in December of 1972. The author of this essay is Francis G. Graham, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Kent State University, and Founder of the American Lunar Society. Earlier in his career, he was a Planetarium and Observatory Lecturer at the original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (a.k.a. Buhl Science Center), Pittsburgh's science and technology museum from 1939 to 1991.

             KOKH’S QUESTION: After 50 Years, Why No Lunar Settlements ?

By Francis G. Graham, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Kent State University

and Founder of the American Lunar Society

Reporting for Spacewatchtower

In the middle of the last century, not yet three fourths complete, human beings did an amazing thing.

They built several large chemical rockets and made a few trips to the Moon and back. The rocket type was the “Saturn V”, which had nothing to do with Saturn; it was a monster of a rocket, of which the preceding rockets were small by comparison. Yet this 360-foot-tall rocket and its associated technology was the minimum needed to accomplish the task with one rocket flight.

But since then, there have been no manned flights to the Moon. There have been no lunar settlements. To the bafflement of 1950’s science fiction writers, humans went to the Moon, and then stopped going there, or even anywhere else except Earth orbit. Prior to the 1960’s, except in the circles of such science fiction writers, talk of going to the Moon was crazy. So it was again in the 1990’s.

Which brings us to Kokh’s Question, named after Peter Kokh, an ardent lunar exploration activist, and founder of the Artemis Society.

.

The question is:“If lunar exploration began in the 1960s, why aren’t there lunar settlements now?”

Click on the Following Link To Continue Reading Professor Graham's Commentary ---

Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/grahamscorner/KOKHs_QUESTION.pdf

Internet Links to Additional Information ---

Apollo 11: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium4.tripod.com/astrocalendar/2019.html#moonday

Personal Remembrance of Apollo 11 Mission by Glenn A. Walsh:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/bio/Apolloremembrance.htm

Related Blog Posts ---

"Pittsburgh Museum Displays Historic Apollo 11 Moon Mission Artifacts."

2018 October 24.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2018/10/pittsburgh-museum-displays-apollo-11.html

"Apollo 11 TV Camera Developer Dies at 91." 2015 Feb. 23.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2015/02/apollo-11-tv-camera-developer-dies-at-91.html

"45 Years Ago: Man Lands on the Moon !" 2014 July 20.

Link >>> https://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2014/07/45-years-ago-man-lands-on-moon.html

"JFK: Loss of the Man Who Sent Us to the Moon." 2013 Nov. 22.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/11/jfk-loss-of-man-who-sent-us-to-moon.html

"Moon Day - A National Holiday ?" 2013 July 20.

Link >>> https://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/07/moon-day-national-holiday.html

 

"American Lunar Society Founder on 50th Anniversary: 1st Humans Orbit Moon, The Incredible Legacy of Apollo 8." 2018 December 24.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2018/12/50th-anniversary-incredible-legacy-of.html

 

"45th Anniversary: Apollo 8 Orbits the Moon Christmas Eve." 2013 Dec. 24.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/12/45th-anniversary-apollo-8-orbits-moon.html

Source: Francis G. Graham, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Kent State University & Founder of the American Lunar Society.

              Tuesday, 2019 July16.

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gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Informal Science Educator & Communicator:
< http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/ >
Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Formerly Astronomical Observatory Coordinator & Planetarium Lecturer, original Buhl Planetarium & Institute of Popular Science (a.k.a. Buhl Science Center), Pittsburgh's science & technology museum from 1939 to 1991.
Formerly Trustee, Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, Pittsburgh suburb of Carnegie, Pennsylvania.
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >