Remembering the Apollo Program as a Lost Future
A Historian’s thoughts on the 50th Anniversary
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first crewed landing on the moon. In between all the commemorative activities — documentaries, parades, events, speeches — that also means we’re undoubtedly going to see a reappraisal of what Apollo means. This happens at all big anniversaries, and it’s usually controversial. The 50th anniversary of the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was particularly fraught, but closer to home, every ANZAC day is marked by reinterpretation as part of remembrance. What’s interesting is the way spaceflight — and Apollo in particular — has shown up in my research on work. Asking the question ‘What does spaceflight mean?’ is particularly important in 2019, but I think it also produces some surprising answers.
Historical Memory
Back when I used to lecture in American History, I built my course around three themes, one of which was historical memory. I was particularly influenced by the work of David Blight on the ‘Lost Cause’ myth in the American South, and Richard White’s work on the American Frontier. White wrote about the competing versions of the frontier spun by Buffalo Bill and Frederick Jackson Turner at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition. Turner, the sober historian, crafted a…
