This month, 40 years after “the eagle” landed successfully on the moon, MIT as an institution and it’s alumni as heroes, are once again nourishing our history. Thus, this issue of The Graduate wants to commemorate the work of an incredible group of people during a historic moment.

It is well known that generating positive changes in the world and achieving dreams fueled by passion, commitment, teamwork, and organized efforts are parts of MIT’s DNA. The University’s relationship with space missions isn’t something new either. As official data from it’s website states:

“ More than one-third of the nation's space flights have included MIT-educated astronauts, who have logged a total of more than 15,000 hours in space. NASA has chosen more MIT graduates to become astronauts than graduates of any other private educational institution. Only the US Air Force Academy, the US Naval Academy and the US Naval Postgraduate School have had more graduates selected for the astronaut program. Four of the 12 astronauts who walked on the moon during the Apollo program were MIT alumni. They logged a total of 51 hours exploring the lunar surface from 1969-72”.

But MIT’s impact on the world’s space-flights and particularly on the Apollo 11 mission was even deeper. “Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth” was one of those few events in history that made all the countries be united as one, that made every frontier vanish, that combined different languages into a unique message of hope that flooded everyone’s hearts, and that made the whole world look up at a same objective at the same time. July 20, 1969 was when it happened, and MIT was a major player in that historic crusade.

On such a unique event, MIT was the only non-governmental institution in the world with alumni playing both were the action was happening and on the backstage, where the plan had been designed. Almost 240,000 miles away from Cambridge, Col. Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, ScD '63, the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11,  was landing for the first time on the moon, and becoming the second person in the history of mankind to set foot on the earth’s satellite. Down on the ground, with total focus and dedication, and after an unprecedented race to reach President Kennedy’s dare to put a man on the moon by 1969, the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory was responsible for the Apollo Guidance and Navigation System (“the Lab” designed and implemented all of the on-board software for both the Command and Service Module and the Lunar Excursion Module).

Three months after John F. Kennedy's 1961 speech committing the USA to get to the moon, NASA awarded its first contract for the Apollo program to MIT, mainly because of the work that the MIT's Instrumentation Lab had done in previous ventures. NASA left MIT mostly alone to work out the guidance, navigation and control system for the moon ship. This program, which culminated in Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong’s famous moon walk, represented a major technical achievement that was unique until then (even though relative to todays computing power, the machine in the heart of the moon ship was primitive and slow, similar to comparing a Formula 1 to an average street car). The Astronaut’s lives relied on this program too, which was designed and built from scratch by MIT. Neither NASA nor MIT had built software of such a caliber before, but with a lot of “soul-searching” on both sides, they made it happen. Many of the Apollo legends who were involved in the project are still around campus and still really connected to our community.

Therefore, MIT’s contribution to mankind reached a higher end. The whole world was savoring the victory of a new era, the feeling of immeasurable achievement, and the fading of the limits of what was thought as unrealizable until that moment. The “Mens et Manus” motto reflected in the Apollo spirit, and grew even stronger, as it showed the world, and us, the future generations, that anything could be done if we dreamed big and worked really hard.

So what does the next 40 years look like for space exploration? There are some trends that seem likely to keep on evolving and leaving other trends aside. Apparently, manned exploration outside Earth’s orbit lost its appeal and robotic missions (way cheaper) became the standard. Also, the search for extraterrestrial life surpassed the desire to continue exploring the moon. Even though the Bush administration tried to re-launch the idea of manned exploration of the solar system with the Constellation program (with the moon as an objective by 2020, and possibly Mars some years later), we still have to see what President Obama’s administration does with the program.

But an even more important question is: What are we, the MIT community, going to do for the world today and during the next 40 years? There are several global issues that need to be solved now, or at least that need to start being articulated as soon as possible. Issues that may not be necessarily out in space, but here at our home. Issues that have the potential to be as big as the one we are celebrating this month, or maybe even bigger. Issues that need to be addressed in order to keep mankind existing. Issues that if solved will give us the sense of achievement that the Apollo project gave the world 40 years ago. Let’s take the MIT alumni that came before us as models: they’ve done their part already and have succeeded; now it is our turn (and our responsibility) to change the world. Let’s refresh that Apollo spirit that guided the heroes we are venerating today and make things happen. Our time is now.

References:

www.mit.edu, www.nasa.gov, www.space.com, www.computerweekly.com, www.linux.com, www.wired.com.