When the Tasmanian Times published a story on remembering the Moon landing on the anniversary of the event this year, it was hardly expected that the concept would go global within a few hours.
As described in the article published on the day of the Moon landing, it is proposed that this historic event be remembered at the time it happened in 1969, when millions of people around the world stopped to listen to it on the radio or watch it on TV.
When the Tasmanian Times story came to the attention of the Space Renaissance International, their interest was stirred and wheels began to turn in the organisation, HQ in Italy, membership global, toward honouring the Moon landing.
It is surprising that there is no annual national day or holiday in the United States to honour this great endeavour of exploration, with NASA giving special attention to the anniversary only once every five years.
Despite gallant efforts by space advocates such as David Baxter of the Space Exploration Day Holiday Foundation in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Moon landing has not won the recognition that many believe this exceptional event deserves.
No human explorers have ventured further than the Apollo astronauts and the fact that after 4 decades, no explorers have returned to the Moon, is testament that this was an incredible achievement.
The concept of First Step was conceived of as a way to, perhaps, inspire a new approach to remembering the first step onto the Moon, with an event that anyone around the world could participate in, all at the same time as happened in 1969.
It was in this spirit of remembrance that the first First Step event was held in the Tasmanian Space Centre on Rosny Hill in 2007, where a display had been organised of newspaper stories of the day.
The next First Step event happened as part of the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing in 2009, when David Baxter’s group in Salt Lake City organised a remembrance of the Moon landing at the time it happened, 40 years on.
In May this year the Student Liaison Committee at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland agreed to give support to a Moon landing event, which would include First Step and planning is proceeding toward this for next year.
In the university setting this might include a science fair and a Moon lights festival with lanterns.
Serving on the Executive Committee of the Space Renaissance International, news is shared and the Tasmanian Times story inspired action which has now included a media release and letters dispatched to space societies and space agencies calling for support for a global holiday in honour of the Moon landing.
Next year there will now be a large number of people around the World stopping for a while, at the time of the Moon landing in 1969, just as people stopped to listen or watch then and wonder about this historic event with the First Step beyond our Earthly nest.
After quiet reflection in a spirit of global unity, there may be interest in a Giant Leap discussion, locally and globally via the Internet, to wonder where our journey beyond Earth may be heading to next.
What will you be doing at 12.56pm AEST on Saturday 21 July 2012?
If anyone would like to participate in remembering the Moon landing at the moment of First Step, we would love to hear what you plan to do and include you on a map of the World showing where First Step is happening.
Space Renaissance International
Media Release
SPACE RENAISSANCE INT’L SEEKS GLOBAL HOLIDAY
Urges celebration of first moon landing, future in space
Planet Earth, 24 July 2011
Space Renaissance International is calling for a worldwide holiday to celebrate the first Moon landing and continuing efforts to assure civilization’s advancement into extraterrestrial space.
In a July 24th letter to other organizations, government agencies and groups around the globe that are involved in space exploration and development, SRI urged that July 20-21 be established as a time to recognize mankind’s achievements through the “First Step” onto another celestial body and to promote all endeavours leading humanity into realms beyond Earth. It was on July 20, 1969, in the United States and Europe – July 21 in earlier time zones – that Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong made the historic “giant leap for mankind,” to be joined minutes later by Buzz Aldrin.
There have been other efforts to establish a day celebrating this extraordinary accomplishment, but none have had the reach sought by SRI, an international organization associated with science groups, space commerce advocates and other space enthusiasts around the world. In their letter, President Adriano Autino and Secretary General Gail B. Leatherwood wrote that SRI “does not claim ‘ownership’ of this initiative.” They appealed to others to join in promoting the time of celebration as one way of unifying the space movement “to speak with a single voice.”
They also wrote that the effort was in no way meant to detract from “Yuri’s Night,” a similar event commemorating Yuri Gagarin’s the first manned orbital flight, or to focus only on the United States’ achievement in first reaching the Moon.
In the proposal circulated with the letter, SRI said it was calling “for individuals, communities, nations, the United Nations, the space agencies, the governments of all countries, to approve and promote July 20th-21st as a worldwide holiday, to celebrate the first human step on another celestial body – a milestone on the path to fulfil human destiny, creating a solar civilization.”
SRI Executive Committee member Kim Peart, who first proposed the idea, added: “First Step is about silence, reflection, watching, wondering – recapturing a unique moment when the whole world stopped to watch and wonder.”
Contact: Walter Putnam [email protected]
