Editorial: Rethinking the great Apollo adventure
快猫短视频 is utterly moonstruck in the run-up to Apollo 11鈥檚 fortieth anniversary. Looking through our back issues, however, we found that our coverage after the event was muted, to say the least.
In the first issue we published after the moon landing, dated 24 July 1969, there was only one piece relating to this other-worldly achievement. Probe 鈥� that鈥檚 the editorial page these days 鈥� was more interested in critiquing the quality of the British coverage of mankind鈥檚 first step on the moon, than discussing its epochal importance to science and society.
Advertisement
鈥淥n BBC James Burke had mild recurrent attacks of the [showbiz bug],鈥� wrote our commentator, complaining of the 鈥渆xtravagant contortions of Earth-bound communicators in their efforts to convey the immensity of the technical and human achievement.鈥�
Berating the sensationalism of the reportage, our writer opined that the reason for all this fuss was that the proliferation of glitzy sci-fi movies has 鈥渕ade the audience blas茅 about scientific wonders.鈥� One has to wonder, given our scant coverage of the moon landing, if that casual attitude was to be found closer to home, too.
Read a scan of the article
Well, it may be 40 years on, but we care now. Do you remember where you were when mankind walked on the moon for the first time? Or were you, like our writer, diverted from the historic occasion by the 鈥渃ommercial-punctuated spectacular that had something to do with the Moon鈥�?
Read more: Apollo 11: Why the moon still matters