One Small Step
The news has recently been full of stories of great firsts – especially the case of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first men on the moon, as we have been marking the anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
I asked some people here if they could name the first man on the moon and, without fail, they were able to name Armstrong. Very few were able to name Aldrin … which may go someway to justifying the depression and troubles he is supposed to have experienced following the “great adventure” of which he was part. (Oddly enough, most of the news coverage I have seen over the run-up to the anniversary has centered on Aldrin – not Armstrong.)
The only people who could name the pilot of the command ship, (Michael Collins), who orbited the moon whilst Armstrong and Aldrin spent those few precious hours on the surface, were ex-pats of a “certain age” like myself, who grew up in the sixties and remembered the events.
Being a little mischievous, I went further and asked how many men had walked on the moon and “if Armstrong was the first – who was the last?”. No-one could answer these.
All of this news coverage has not only brought memories flooding back of the 1960′s but has also spurred me into thinking about wider issues, such as the effects on the these three men, their different ways of handling the mission, the exposure and pressures they experienced upon their return, and what we can learn from them.
It’s not often that we get the chance of being a real pioneer … someone who “opens an area or prepares a way” … like Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were. In order for Armstrong to make his “one small step” which represented “one giant leap for mankind” they relied on a host of other people. Unlike most pioneers, they were reliant totally on their own resources. Behind them were a massive team of scientists, engineers and others. It was thanks to the efforts of such people that the crew of Apollo 13 were able to return safely to Earth following their, “Houston, we have a problem“, mishap.
In fact, what’s more, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins in Apollo 11 were not the first people to fly to the moon – this mission was the crowning glory of a space programme which President Kennedy had spurred on some 8 years, in May 1961, earlier with his famous speech to Congress in which he declared: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.“.
Kennedy was quite clear in this speech about what he was asking Congress – the commitment to the additional resources – as his closing remarks of this part of his speech show:,
“I believe we should go to the moon. But I think every citizen of this country as well as the Members of the Congress should consider the matter carefully in making their judgment, to which we have given attention over many weeks and months, because it is a heavy burden, and there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful. If we are not, we should decide today and this year.
This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and technical manpower, materiel and facilities, and the possibility of their diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel.”
Not much is made of the condition Kennedy set of returning this man, (or, as it turned out, these men), “safely to earth“, although he does make one more reference to it in the speech. As it turned out, however, it was to be a major guiding force in much of the effort that was to was lead up to the landing. The reason the mission was called Apollo 11 was that it was preceded by a number of other, preparatory, missions designed to test decisions and procedures to the limit. There were “dummy runs” of the launch, the separation and docking of the two modules, a flight around the moon, and even a descent close to the surface … It is said that the only thing that couldn’t be tried and tested beforehand was the launch of the lunar module from the moon’s surface. As it happens they faced other problems as they nearly ran out of fuel, and the lift-off almost proved to be a disaster as they managed to break one of the switches when putting on their backpacks … and it was a simple pen that came to the rescue – jammed into the control panel to serve as a makeshift switch. In the words of the Duke of Wellington: “It was a close run thing.”
I quite enjoy watching TV documentaries about great events and achievements such as landing a man to the moon and returning him safely to Earth, constructing a massive building, or conducting a military campaign. They bring to light the complex planning, the roles and inter-relationships of the various members of the team, and the need for adaptability and flexibility to meet unforeseen difficulties that will almost inevitable arise.
Now, putting together and delivering a tour or running a hotel may not be quite as daunting a task as sending a man to the moon … but they still require commitment, effort, expertise and teamwork from a variety of people … without which they are doomed to difficulty and an increased potential of failure.
It may well be the “shop steward” in me, but I am always reminding people of their role in the company … that we work as a team and they are just as important to our success, or otherwise, as anyone else – including me. For example: once, when I went into the hotel, I was greeted by one of our staff who commented I looked very smart. I replied that I had just been in a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister in “White House”, (Government House). When I mentioned the Minister’s name the eyebrows of our employee rose close to the crown of his head. He was obviously impressed. I tried to make little of it … pointing out that his work was probably more important to us than mine … he worked with the clients and, hopefully, his work work brought us income – whereas mine involved sitting in meetings and probably cost us money.
I well remember one case when, as a young teacher, a cleaner who was given the task of cleaning up some vomit from the floor after a child had been sick … The attitude of one of my colleagues towards the cleaner made me feel sick in turn, It is true that whilst he did nothing to hinder her and it was, technically, “her job” to clean the room but his approach was arrogant and commanding. I felt that she deserved to be treated with dignity and respect. It was, after all unpleasant work, made even more unpleasant by an over domineering and commanding attitude of a teacher who thought so much of himself that he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do anything to help.
Some staff, of course, are in direct contact with clients, such as: receptionists, waiters, guides and drivers, whereas others aren’t and work in the “back office” … they are, however, just as important and we demand as much commitment and professionalism from them as we do from their “front office” colleagues.
Without the “backroom boys” of Mission Control Center, whether “whizz kids” or otherwise, then Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins would never have been in a position to make history.
For the record, here are the answers to the two questions that no-one could answer: Twelve and Harrison Schmitt.
As well as Armstrong and Aldrin there were: Charles “Pete Conrad“, Alan Bean, Alan Shephard, EdgarMitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young (landing on his second trip to the moon, having been on Apollo 10 without landing), Charles Duke, Gene Cernan (also landing on his second trip to the moon, having been on Apollo 10 without landing) and Harrison Schmitt (who was the last man to leave the surface and enter the the lunar module for the return flight to Earth).
Incidentally, another 12 have been around the moon – Jim Lovell twice … once in Apollo 8 and again in Apollo 13. In addition to Collins and Lovell, the others were: Frank Borman, Bill Anders, Tom Stafford, Dick Gordon, Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, Stuart Roosa, Al Worden, Ken Mattingly and Ronald Evans.
Bishkek