Apollo 11 mission on July, 20^th 1969: Contact light. Eagle has landed.

Questions:

1. Was the Moon landing really important or was it first of all the part of the space race between US and USSR?

2. Why did US „pull out“ from the Moon?

Mike Gruntman, Professor of Astronautics, University of Southern California

1. It is a combination. From a short-term perspective, the cold war competition between the United States and the Soviet Union played a very important role in landing on the Moon. However, if one looks long-term ... One-two hundred years from now, the landing on the Moon will stand out as a first stepping stone for the human race expanding in the Solar system. Without the space race it would not have happened in 1960s but only much later.

It was a remarkable achievement that eliminated many 'this-is-a-pure-fantasy-and-cannot-be-done-ever" restrictions.

2. Space enthusiasts, scientists, and engineers would have loved to continue rapid expansion in the Solar system. But somebody has to pay for space exploration, and this is an expensive enterprise. American people were and are ready support space exploration but there should be some compelling rationale, urgency of spending significant resources. The Cold War provided such a rationale. Winning the competition is space resulted in significant reduction in space effort. It is much more difficult without a competition in a vital national security area to obtain the required resources. Still, the United States spends today on space a factor of 4 to 6 more, as a fraction of gross domestic product, than industrialized countries of Europe and Japan. (France is the only exception, spending on space more than its European neighbors.)

Michael Smith, Associate Professor of History, Purdue University

1. The race to the moon began as a crucial part of the "space race." The historical record shows that, with the USSR winning so many dramatic "firsts" in the space race (Sputnik and Gagarin), the Kennedy administration launched and funded "Apollo" in 1961 in order to establish an even more stunning and dramatic USA "first." Throughout the program, with special effect in 1968 (over the question who would be first to orbit the moon), the USSR and USA were indeed in a heated competition. Yet along the way, Apollo also became something much more than just a competition. Thanks to the rather flawless Saturn rockets (a 100% success rate) and the tremendously successful Apollo command and orbiting and lunar modules (only Apollo 13 experienced a serious failure), and thanks to the revolutionary exploration and scientific discoveries conducted on the moon, Apollo has become a real and lasting legacy for all humanity -- our first exploratory leap beyond earth orbit.

2. The Nixon administration canceled the few remaining Apollo flights to the moon while the last Apollo missions were still in play. The reason? Public opinion and a failing economy (inflation) forced the administration to scale back. After expending some $25 billion dollars to reach the moon, NASA's ambitious plans for space exploration, for many billions of dollars more, were met with skepticism and opposition. Plans to create a re-usable space plane, an orbiting space station, a large human colony on the moon, and a human mission to Mars -- were all denied. All NASA was allowed was the re-usable space plane (the Space Shuttle) -- now to be retired soon, within a year or so, as one of the last chapters in that old story of the space and moon race.

Ron DiIulio, Planetarium and Astronomy Laboratory Director, Physics Department, University of North Texas

1. The space race between the U.S. and Russia was probably one of the most scientifically creative times for both countries. While history will always say the it was political, to the scientists of both countries the Space Race was the finest hour for scientists to discover much about our solar system, and how humans might have begun. So...while many say it was a political race, scientists from both countries are thankful that we had an opportunity to be given the money for their space research.

2. I believe that the U.S. "pulled out" of lunar exploration because we were not prepared to send men to the moon for any long period of time. NASA had already determined that we would need to develop some sort of "space truck" that could carry supplies and building materials into space, which could then be used by astronauts to build living quarters in space. This led to NASA's development of the Space Shuttle program, as well as the Space Station which became a joint effort between many of our countries here on Earth.

I think that the U.S. and Russia both realize the importance of learning how to send Man to other planets in order to provide more living space, as the Earth becomes more crowded, and its resources are consumed. I am very proud of the teamwork that both the U.S. and Russian scientists and astronauts are showing as we learn about long-term living on the International Space Station. Long live real Science!