Why Did We Stop Human Space Travel?

One of the biggest disappointments in my lifetime was our failure to continue the Apollo Program and human space flight to the moon and the other planets. If we had continued to do this our technology would have advanced even further, we may have had bases not only on the moon, but also on Mars and maybe some of the moons of Jupiter. This may all be speculation, but it does seem if we continued our trips into space we would have been further ahead in space travel technology by now. When I talk about these things I am disregarding the fact some people think we continued to travel in space and it was only a matter of time before the program becoming secret. This could be true and I have talked about it many times, but for the purpose of this article I am only talking about things we have been told and we were told there were no more manned trips to the moon after Apollo 17. Some memories stay with us and I remember a government official saying we were not going back to the moon, because the public was no longer interested in the Apollo Program. I also remember how angry it made me, because I know it wasn’t true and the blame was being put on us.

The space Program started because both the US and the Soviet Union were in competition to each prove they had superior technology. Both of us wanted to flex our German scientists’ muscles. The Soviet Union and the United States had both captured a number of German rocket scientists after World War II and the Germans had been far ahead of both of us in this technology. If the Germans would have won the war they had plans for a space station and even bigger rockets and planes which would travel by bouncing off a layer of the atmosphere enabling them to reach very high speeds and conserve fuel. A plane like this had been planned and was to be used as a bomber to bomb the United States. One German scientist became an expert in designing space suits and such. He had conducted experiments on how long the human body could survive as the air got more rarified and became a vacuum. One has to pity all the poor prisoners who died during these experiments. He never let it bother him.

When the Soviets put Sputnik into orbit, it frightened everyone in the Western world. I remember people thinking the next thing to go up was going to be a nuclear weapon and the Soviets would be able to drop them on us at will. They didn’t realize the difference between putting up a tiny satellite and a controllable nuke which weighed several tons. When Yuri Gagarin went into orbit it seemed the United States was very far behind the Soviets and they would conquer space. Then we started the Gemini Program and we began putting our own astronauts into space. We may have been second, but we proved we did have the capability to match the Soviets. We threw the resources of our entire country behind the Apollo Program, an ambitious program to ultimately land men on the moon. We had some failures and astronauts died, but we got men on the moon first. When I look at that Apollo Program now I realize what a waste of money it was, because it should have been a world effort with both the US, the Soviets and the rest of the world included. It should have been an effort all mankind shared.

The Soviets tried to compete with us, but they were at a disadvantage. We were too rich for them to compete against on such a scale. They did manage to develop something similar to our space shuttle, it was called the Buran. It only had one launch, but it became the only reusable vehicle to belong to the Soviets which was launched into space. As time went by and the competition from the Soviets lessened, the US government seemed to be less interested in the Apollo Program. Aside from its usefulness to the scientific community, the Apollo Program was basically a public relations program to make us look good and the Soviets look insufficient. If we look at it from this point of view we can understand that at one point it was no longer needed and this may be the true reason it was abandoned. I remember hearing we had quite a few Saturn V rockets left and we were destroying them. I don’t know if we actually did, but we were told by the government they were going to be destroyed.

The Soviets tested a lot of different rockets during this period as did we. I remember one general who insisted on sitting near the launch pad and not going into the blockhouse for safety. His staff didn’t want to sit outside, but they knew they would look like cowards if they didn’t, so they all sat near the launch pad. Unfortunately for them the rocket blew up and killed everyone sitting out there. The explosion had killed General Nedelin, his top aide, the USSR’s top missile designer and seventy-one officers and engineers. Two men, missile designer Mikhail Yangel and the test range commanding officer survived, because they had walked away to smoke. Was this the real reason they left before the launch or were they smart enough to realize the danger they were in?

There have been many theories why we stopped sending men to the moon and the UFO community has one which states we were warned by aliens not to come back. I have to wonder about this theory since we went to the moon so many times. Wouldn’t the warning have come on the first landing? Another theory is we don’t have the money to send any more manned space flights there. I also heard the space shuttle was capable of reaching the moon and returning. I wonder about that, because of the fuel which would be involved, I don’t see how it could carry enough. There is a theory which on the face of it seems impossible, but I will tell you about it anyway. It states we have secretly joined with the Russians to travel in space. The people who believe this cite the fact the Russians still supply rockets to the space station. I don’t have any evidence for why we stopped sending men to the moon, all I have is circumstantial evidence and rumors. Even if we have a secret space program I still believe space travel should be a world effort, there is plenty of space out there for everyone.