After decades of ‘dormancy’ why is there is a sudden rush to the moon. Now, I have started doubting the very first landing. “Did we ever land on the moon?” The moon has been a source of allure since eons. The Russian satellite ‘Sputnik’ showed in 1957 that the space can be explored and a series of space missions followed. American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin descended on the lunar surface in 1969.
India is too on a ‘get set go’ with the Chandrayaan-1 and rarin to go with Chandrayaan-2. Forthcoming decades will witness more space missions undertaken by various countries. But the question on my mind is “Did we ever land on the moon?” I am neither a scientist nor a sympathizer but I subscribe to the Russian expert in the field. Bill Kaysing’s view that the historical landing of Americans on the moon was a hoax.
He questions why couldn’t America think of landing again even after the passage of over three decades. With the advent of fast computers and other resources. America could have recorded several trips to moon by this time. But it didn’t happen.
Stars are absent in a snap of earth taken from moon, flag is seen waving although there is no air there, multiple shadows of the same figure despite the lonely source of light that is Sun, the plaque having letters USA written on it is visible in shadow as the sun is exactly behind the satellite, he points out.
Why there is no noise of the engine when the famous line one small step of (a) man and a giant leap for mankind was uttered, he asks. The statement was re-written latter by supplying the article in brackets that had been omitted or swallowed up in transmission. The list of doubts raising everyone’s eyebrows is unending. But my rationale is different.
Scientists all over the world use the term ‘known universe’ and avoid talking about the ‘unknown’. For me, the latter matters most. Exact speed of light calculated by scientists belonging to different centuries was different.
What does it mean? That means every new scientist proved his predecessor wrong and generation after generation were taken for ride. We are still using unscientific expressions like ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’. Don’t we know that it is earth that revolves around the sun?
Our knowledge is finite but ignorance is infinite. It dawned on me the other day during a wordy duel with my bachmate. “Science is useless. Live telecast on TVs can take you to Sydney in Australia but often fails to show a crow dropping on your TV’s antenna,” he would say. Another intrusion: Without milestones and name plates we cannot locate which villages we are passing through during our journey even on earth. Then how can we claim that we have landed on the moon?
The duel went on but I was lost in my thoughts. Recent space explorations have revealed that there is a debris of celestial bodies around our mother earth. The lunar module might have landed on any unknown asteroid. The term ‘continuous creation’ is in vogue today. New stars are taking birth due to collisions and explosions. New solar systems are rearing their heads. Why should we explore infinite? Isn’t it better to be a part of it? Travellers of infinity and eternity should not keep track record of such small steps. I console myself!
