The Press SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1969. Man And His World

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32050, 26 July 1969, Page 12

The Press SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1969. Man And His World

The last doubts have been resolved, the last anxieties set at rest; and the millions who travelled to the moon and back with Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins in this exciting week may well find themselves, once the first surge of exultation and relief has subsided, feeling almost cheated by the sheer technological perfection of this cosmic drama. It all went so smoothly, the principal actors out in space and their army of supporting extras on earth went through their long-rehearsed roles so expertly and spoke their lines so matter-of-factly, that already the triumph of the final curtain seems to have taken on an inevitability to which it surely was not entitled.

These are brave men; and it will be sad if, in days when the world stands in need of the inspiration and encouragement that are to be drawn from any example of selflessness and courage, the human element in this great technological achievement should be lost to sight This was a journey comparable with the epic voyages of discovery and exploration; though it was physically on very different scales of time and distance it presented the same intellectual challenge as Columbus’s voyage to the Americas and Peary’s, Amundsen’s, and Scott’s marches to the Poles. The early explorers no doubt faced greater hardships; but they at least had the reassurance of knowing that if anything went wrong they would have a fighting chance of survival—whatever chance their own resources of courage, endurance, and ingenuity would earn for them. Collins, Armstrong, and Aldrin had to put their faith —as. it seems, men must increasingly do in this scientific age—in machines and in the human intelligences that built and guided them, in the certain knowledge that against any one of a score of possible mechanical, electronic, or human errors they had no defence and no hope of reprieve. Men have taken their first halting steps on the moon, only the first of countless worlds still to be reached and ’explored. In spite of the enormous cost man will undoubtedly continue the probing of this and further worlds. Fortunately, there are some encouraging signs that the nations equipped for this task will yet see the wisdom of avoiding the worst of the present duplication of effort and the consequent waste of resources for which there is so much need on earth. But no-one need regret that man will continue to be driven irresistibly by his yearning for knowledge and that he will not rest content while there are mysteries of the far-flung universe or of the minutest particles of matter still to be explored. For these are his world—the world in which he is at once a physical and intellectual giant in relation to his near environment and an insignificant mote in the infinity of space and matter beyond it And the full wonders of this world are only just beginning to be revealed.