Since I’m in the Big City of Chicago, I like to keep up on current events. That’s why I’ve been reading a 1958 issue of Popular Science.

One of the more surreal articles was about how man would get to the moon. This is 1958, right after Sputnik 1 (remember: it’s properly pronounced spoot-nick, like the oo in tooth; that’s your Russian lesson for today). Anyhow, here we were in the middle of a cold war and we’re talkin about the future. Kinda like today.

The first thing I noticed was how conservative the numbers were. They said that maybe, just maybe, we’d be on the moon in The Year 2000. Here is the timetable:

1958-1960 : Marking The Moon : The plan was to put some sort of “marker” on the moon. Why? I’m not really sure, though they talked about the mass and gravitional forces. Not too crazy, I guess.

1962 : A-Bomb The Moon : This has to be my favorite, by far. Let me quote the scientists of the time: “The exciting next step will come a short time later when an atomic bomb is exploded on the moon.” Exciting times, indeed! Let’s vaporize a big chunk of our natural satellite! Why do this? Well, I guess the idea was to blow enough crap into space so that scientists could determine what makes up the lunar surface. Instead of, you know, sending a rover. Isn’t there anything that an A-Bomb can’t fix?

1968 : Instruments On The Moon : After blowing the shit out of things we next try putting a payload on the surface. Hopefully it includes a bomb.

1975 : Lunar Dust Brought Back To Earth : More recon work. This time something more interesting: Landing, picking up some moon dust, and bringing it back to Earth. But wait, don’t forget the A-Bomb: “The first rocket, programmed to crash on the moon, is armed with an atomic bomb. When the bomb goes off, a tremendous amount of surface material will be blasted high into the lunar sky…the second lunar rocket will sweep in from the sky [picking up the dust].” Didn’t these guys realize that blowing something up might alter its chemical structure? Hmm.

2000 : Man On The Moon : Well, we’ve finally gotten there. Why did it take so long? Because we had to build a space station first, and that didn’t go up until 1978. Then years more “to plan, build and assemble equipment for the landing on the moon [from the space station].” Because, you know, it’s a lot easier putting together a rocket in orbit than on the ground. LOL.

With hindsight the whole A-Bomb the moon seems pretty silly, and the space station was (and still is) a giant farce, and the timeframes are way long, but it illustrates a really important point. When people are scared shitless (as they were during the Cold War) they think small. They think, yea, it’s possible, but that it will take a long, long time. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be on the moon 50 years from the writing of the article. But we need to bomb it first.

And yet, by July 20, 1969, two men stepped on the surface of the moon. A mere 10 years instead of 50. What does that tell you about what we can do as a society if we put our minds to something?