They did that Moon Thing: What did we learn about the Moon by going there?

摘要

Unlike the identity crisis afflicting the International Space Station, which has been variously billed as a mission for science, a mission for international relations and/or an engineering project on par with the Seven Wonders of the World, the Apollo missions to the Moon were waged with a single-minded goal: to show-up the Soviets by showcasing technology that would make the Communist regime think twice about butting nuclear warheads with the United States. The race that catapulted politics into space is long over, with the former foes now cohabitating in an orbital outpost. America's moonwalkers―those who are still alive―are senior citizens, and no one has visited the Moon in 30 years. Unquestionably, Apollo accomplished its objective. But historians may one day note with irony that a project sired by the threat of global nuclear annihilation gave birth to some of the most fundamental and profound scientific discoveries about how our world came into existence.