Credit: NASA
SYDNEY: It's been 40 years since the historic Apollo 11 mission, which took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the Moon.
Many have argued this was a defining point in the history of mankind, one that led to a "cosmic shift in the human condition." Others believe the Moon landing marked the end, rather than the beginning, of a dream.
The Apollo missions had real, scientific, rather than just cultural, significance and there are good reasons why we should go back to the Moon today. Former U.S. president George W. Bush made a grand plan for the space agency NASA to return there by 2020. But with the current financial crisis there are doubts whether the will still exists to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on getting people back out into deep space.
To mark the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing, you'll find a whole package of articles on Cosmos Online:
40 YEARS SINCE MOON LANDING
The U.S. is marking the 40th anniversary of the historic first Moonwalk, with President Barack Obama kicking off events by meeting at the White House, with the crew of the Apollo 11 mission.
APOLLO LED TO COSMIC SHIFT IN HUMAN CONDITION
One of the many legacies of the Apollo space program was the way it caused an extraordinary, enduring – and, for some, troubling – change in how we perceive the universe and our place within it.
SATELLITE OF SOLITUDE
Only a dozen men have walked the airless, forbidding surface of our Moon. One day, others will too - but until then, only those 12 can ever know what it is like … and Buzz Aldrin was the lunar module pilot on the very first mission. He tells Cosmos what it was like.
WHY THE MOON ROCKS
What we've learned from the Moon landings over the past 40 years has given scientists good reasons to return to our nearest heavenly body, says Australian planetary scientist Jeremy Bailey.
DECIPHERING APOLLO'S FOOTAGE
As the Apollo project took off, Tony Klein, a University of Melbourne physicist, was thrown into the spotlight to provide commentary for huge TV audiences. Forty years later, he recounts his experience to Cosmos.
DID 1969 MARK THE END OF THE DREAM?
If visions conjured by the first lunar landing were to be believed, by the 21st century we would be colonising the Moon, honeymooning on Mars and scouting the moons of Jupiter.
MOON LANDING FOOTAGE RESTORED
NASA has unveiled restored video footage of man's first steps on the Moon to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
LOST MOON LANDING TAPES DISCOVERED
For years 'lost' tapes recording data from the Apollo 11 Moon landing have been stored underneath the seats of Australian physics students. A recent search has uncovered them.
ARMSTRONG'S MOON LANDING SPEECH REWRITTEN
An Australian researcher using high-tech software has revealed what Neil Armstrong really said as he became the first human to step onto the Moon's surface.
THE MAN WHO WENT TO THE MOON AND CAME BACK AN ARTIST
Forty years after Alan Bean became the fourth man to walk on the Moon, the former astronaut still likes to share his memories of space flight with a broad audience – by painting them.
SET SIGHTS ON MARS, MOON PIONEERS URGE
As the world marked the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing, astronauts urged Americans to take inspiration from the Apollo program and go back to the Moon and on to Mars.
MARS CREW 'RETURN TO EARTH'
Six volunteers from Russia and Europe emerged from a capsule inside a Moscow research facility yesterday where they had been locked away for the last three months to simulate a mission to Mars.
BUZZ ALDRIN: MARS PIONEERS SHOULD STAY THERE
The first astronauts sent to Mars should be prepared to spend the rest of their lives there, in the same way that European pioneers headed to America knowing they wouldn't return home, says moonwalker Buzz Aldrin.
GO TO THE MOON, WIN $30 MILLION
Forty years ago, NASA astronauts first walked on the Moon. But the next successful mission to the Moon may be run by privately funded researchers.
THE GREAT MOON RUSH
China, Japan, India, Russia, and the U.S. are all sending satellites to the Moon, with landers, rovers and possibly astronauts hot on their heels. So why is the Moon such a draw?
THE FINAL FRONTIER
In the 1960s the space race created a fascination with science and great technological advances. To find alien life we need to take back up that mantle, says astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, and send people further into space.
ETERNAL FRONTIER
Going into space may be one of the best things we can do to save our world, and ourselves, says Wilson da Silva.
MOON A 'GOLDMINE' FOR FUSION
Forty years after men first walked on the Moon, and as the United States prepares to return astronauts to Earth's nearest neighbour by 2020, it remains an object of fascination and curiosity.
NUCLEAR POWER ON THE MOON
When NASA astronauts set up the first manned outpost on the Moon, they may well pack a kilogram of uranium to take along with them.
EARTH COULD SHIELD MOON COLONISTS FROM RADIATION
For about seven days a month, the Moon's orbit carries it inside the protective cocoon of Earth's magnetic field. Could future colonists use this to their advantage?
MOON BLANKET COULD PROTECT LUNAR COLONY
The first astronauts to return to the Moon could be shielded from cosmic and solar radiation with a flexible covering designed by university students.
SELF-SUFFICIENT SPACE HABITAT DESIGNED
Australian-led scientists have designed a new space habitat that might one day allow astronauts on the Moon or Mars to be 90 to 95 per cent self-sufficient.
U.S. TO COLONISE MOON BY 2020
The United States plans to set up a colony on the south pole of the Moon around 2020 as a base for further manned exploration of the Solar System, NASA announced on Monday.
FORGET APOLLO, ANTARCTIC MOON-ROCK BETTER
A rare, golf-ball-sized lunar meteorite recently discovered in the snowfields of Antarctica can tell us more about the Moon than samples taken directly from the lunar surface, according to researchers.
FIRST IMAGES OF MOON'S HIDDEN CRATERS
An orbiting Indian probe is sending back the first radar images of mysterious, previously hidden craters near the poles of the Moon.
VOLCANISM ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON
New images of the far side of the Moon show that volcanoes continued to erupt there for much longer than previously thought.
MOON'S BACKSIDE MAY ONCE HAVE FACED EARTH
The far side of the Moon may have once faced Earth, says a new study which argues that a massive asteroid impact billions of years ago could have flipped it through 180º.
MAPS OF MOON'S FAR SIDE GIVE NEW CLUES TO ITS ORIGIN
Astronomers have gained new insight into how the Moon formed by combining a new topographical map with knowledge about the Moon's gravity.
INDIA'S SPACECRAFT ENTERS LUNAR ORBIT
India's first unmanned spacecraft entered lunar orbit Saturday, 18 days after an Indian-built rocket transported it into outer space.
CHILDREN OF APOLLO
Inspired as children by the Moon missions, a new breed of entrepreneur is bringing the dreams of youth and business smarts to the next frontier.
