Today we remember Neil Armstrong’s first step on a moon. Forty years ago we took, ”One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But does mankind still marvel at the giant leaps being made in science? And what will inspire today’s generation?
Questions posed in this morning’s paper by Christopher M. Hearte and Scott Gillespie, publisher and editor of Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune:
Americans remembered and reflected on the moonwalk this month, as banner headlines and breathless cable commentary inspired more than 31 million to tune in one of 18 networks that carried a celebration of the life of the first man to do it.
Of course, all that was for Michael Jackson’s moonwalk, not for the “giant leap” astronaut Neil Armstrong made on humankind’s behalf 40 years ago today.
Times change — and so do cultures’ definitions of inspiring endeavors.
Even at the time of the moonwalk, the culture watched with amazement and then gravitated toward Woodstock and the glamour of Hollywood.
Science has slipped as nation’s ‘greatest achievement,’” said a headline on a new poll from the Pew Center for People and the Press last week. It showed a drastic drop over the last decade — from 47 percent to 27 percent — in the portion of Americans who view scientific, medical and technological transformations as the greatest achievement over the last 50 years.
Among the poll’s big gainers? “Nothing/Don’t Know,” which is now the most common answer.
When asked specifically about “space exploration and putting a man on the moon,” the percentage citing it as the greatest modern achievement dropped from 18 percent a decade ago to 12 percent today. Younger Americans are especially unimpressed by space. Among those born after 1977, only 5 percent believe space exploration is the greatest achievement.
Some of this may be due to today’s media indifference and fragmentation. The “Big Three” broadcasters of July 1969 have atomized into 2009’s big 300 available on some satellite and cable services. And back then, the “Big Three’s” anchors – led by Walter Cronkite, “the most trusted man in America,” who had an intense interest in the space race — led continuous coverage, compared with more recent years, when about the only times we’ve seen live network coverage of the space program followed the tragic deaths of astronauts in the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia disasters
And while the government and the nation are in a financial mess, these writers point out, somewhat knowingly absurdly, that the government is not investing in NASA or like endeavors like it used to.
Fiscally, this makes sense. But the value in a national sense of purpose — indeed, in a goal that transcends national identity — is hard to overestimate. Baby boomers, who came of age during the Apollo era, remain inspired by it. The Pew poll reports that 17 percent of them still cite space as the nation’s greatest achievement, which is only down 2 percentage points from 1999.
Maybe what America needs is exactly another “why-not” challenge like the lunar landing was. Perhaps it should now be focused here on earth — how to harness reliable, renewable, affordable energy, for instance.
Here’s another, how about rallying to protect the unborn? It would allow for a small step for a man, but a giant leap for mankind. Why not?