Giant steps are what you take, walking on the Moon...

How can it really be forty years to the day since the first human beings walked on the surface of a celestial body that was not our own little world? How can it be that we've never surpassed that magnificent achievement after four decades? Oh don't get me wrong, there have been other incredible, world changing endeavours - the Human Genome project springs to mind - but after four decades not to have striven beyond that Moon walk is dreadfully sad. Its like Concorde being retired without a next generation bigger, better, faster, more efficient replacement coming in, or the Shuttle due to finish its flights next year. Sometimes it feels like we've gone backwards a bit, not a good thing as a species.



Yes, I know there are other important priorities needing world resources, not least feeding the hungry and controlling runaway populations. And some will say we shouldn't 'squander' money on space when we have these problems to look at here. But as Bill Hicks used to say, if we didn't spend so much on every more devious ways to kill one another we could spend the money we spend on weapons to feed the hungry and still have plenty left over to explore space. Hell, if we took what women collectively spend on make-up every year we could do that! But still I feel sad that those things which marked the wave of a bright future when I was a wee boy now turn out to have been the highwater mark and the tide of progress has receded. Although I did really enjoy the image of all three of the Apollo 11 crew with Obama on the news. Three of my boyhood heroes. Still three of my heroes.







my signed copy of Two Sides of the Moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov, a memento of the day when an Apollo astronaut came into my bookstore and I got to shake his hand.