Eight Is Enough
I read an interesting interview with Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 command module in lunar orbit while Neil and Buzz went down to the surface of the Moon, in which he argues that history will remember Apollo 8 as more significant than Apollo 11, since it was the first time man truly left his home planet, and that ultimately the act of leaving will be considered more important that the achievement of arriving. I don't know that I necessarily agree with him, because I don't know that Apollo 8 will be remembered that way in the long run. The Moon, while a seperate body in space, is still in Earth orbit, and thus Apollo 8, while orbiting the Moon, was still orbiting the Earth. How much regard history will give the difference between the Low Earth Orbit of previous spaceflights and the "Very High Earth Orbit" of AS8, I don't know, but I can't imagine that it would be very great after man leaves Terran space behind completely and ventures out into the Solar System, on his way to Mars, etc. Apollo 11, even if it still occurred within Earth-space, will always have the significance of being the first time man walked on the surface of a body other than the Earth.
That's just my two cents. I'd love to hear what you think.

:: :: 11:04 :: David :: [permalink] ::