Academic

Clevelanders on Moon Day

By Jacqueline Lipton

After Mark and Kim's posts on Moon Day yesterday, and my comments about what percentage of Cleveland radio listeners still believe the moon landing was a hoax, I was interested in today's readers' poll in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  People were asked:  "Do you think we should return to the moon?"  No one said yes, largely because of concerns that the money could be better spent elsewhere.  Some people recalled the original moon landing and thinking at the time what a tremendous waste of money it was for so little tangible gain for mankind.  I'm too young to actually remember the moon landing - assuming, of course, that it wasn't a hoax! - but does anyone know what the press was like at the time?  Was there a large constituency of people who thought it was a waste of time?  Where people subsequently expecting that space exploration would lead to greater things that never eventuated?  How depressing...

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on July 21, 2009 (boomark / email).