Years ago, Buzz Aldrin said: “Once you have stood on another celestial body and looked back at the Earth, you realise how small, precious and fragile it is amid the vastness of space. We shouldn’t be fighting over it.” Buzz was a successful fighter pilot before he became an astronaut, and the experience of walking on the Moon changed him hugely. The moonwalkers went there in peace for all humankind. If NASA plans work out, they will do it again.
Most have always had philosophies and feelings which transcend national, cultural and racial barriers. It comes with the turf. Space agencies around the world, including NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), are for the peaceful exploration of space. But for others, ‘peaceful’ equates with ‘defence’, since strong armed forces can keep the peace. Military planners in the richer nations are increasingly turning their attention to space for the protection of space assets and services and possible warfighting in orbit. Developments in civil space can often be applied to military programs.
Recent, very worrying political events have shown that even the most developed and trusted political systems are failing to prevent megalomaniacs from gaining power. And these people are often in charge of the armed forces. If the bad are strong, then the good must be stronger. But this can often lead to the proliferation of arms and a strengthening of the military-industrial machine where manufacturers make a huge amount of money out of arms contracts, therefore influencing politicians to support military spending. At one point the US had some 31,000 nuclear warheads, and you might wonder how many planets they were planning to destroy with those.
This story is from the Issue 114 edition of All About Space.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 114 edition of All About Space.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
"We knew that this would be a historic comet"
Astronomer David Levy was immortalised for his co-discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 – its impact with Jupiter 29 years ago held the world in awe
CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER DX 102AZ
Innovative technology provides the simplest and quickest solution yet to finding objects to observe, and this instrument will be very popular with beginners
MOON TOUR - COPERNICUS
Get up close to the ‘Monarch of the Moon’
A HUNGRY BLACK HOLE 'SWITCHES ON' AS ASTRONOMERS WATCH IN SURPRISE
J221951 is one of the most extreme examples yet
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE - WHY DOES JUPITER CHANGE COLOUR?
For years, scientists have tried to work out why Jupiter’s bands frequently move and change colour. Now they believe they’ve found the answer
MARS HELICOPTER PHONES HOME AFTER A 63-DAY SILENCE
Rugged terrain had kept Ingenuity from communicating with its robotic partner, the Perseverance rover
SIX OF THE BEST SPACE PRANKS
It turns out that the sky isn’t the limit when it comes to a good old-fashioned practical joke
CLIMATES CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Alongside Earth, our planetary neighbourhood is changing. But not for the better…
TIME APPEARED TO MOVE FIVE TIMES SLOWER IN THE FIRST BILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG
Time dilation, brought about by the relativistic expansion of space, has resulted in the observed slowing of ‘clocks’ in the early universe
WHAT CAN WE DO WITH A CAPTURED ASTEROID?
Asteroids could provide us with rare resources