40 years ago, man walked on the moon for the first time. This was an incredible achievement, the culmination of an immense project. This project had a lot of advantages:

• Clear objective – to send a man to the moon, and bring him back again
• Clear quality requirements – keep them alive
• Strong support from senior stakeholders – Presidential support
• Extensive funding – between $20 and $25.4 billion in 1969 dollars (or approximately $135 billion in 2005 dollars)

But, of course, the project had an awful lot of difficulties too. Not only were they trying to do something never done before, but they also had a clear and public deadline – the end of the decade. It took determination, hard work, acts of genius and even a bit of luck to get there. And, of course, good project management!

The other thing the project had going for it, though, was a healthy attitude to risk. The project was trying to do something incredible, and the people involved, most especially the astronauts, accepted that there was a genuine risk they could lose their lives. But they believed that the risk was low enough, and the prize was great enough, that it was a risk worth taking.

As we look back at the achievements of the Apollo programme, it’s also worth looking forward, to see where we want to get to now, and how we want to do it. There is talk of establishing a permanent base on the moon. This presents all sorts of engineering challenges, and is an interesting proposition.

But to me, the real excitement comes at the thought of sending a man to another planet, of getting completely out of our little Earth-Moon gravity well. Putting humans on Mars would be a herculean task, a task to truly challenge the science and technology of our era. The biggest challenge, though, seems to be cultivating a mindset that accepts the ultimate risk, that helps all of us again believe that some things are worth risking everything for.

I hope you’ll forgive my self-indulgence in writing this post, but sending humans to another planet is important to me. Yes, for the scientific knowledge we would gain. Yes, for the chance of spreading humanity that little bit wider in this universe. But most of all, for the adventure, because I believe seeking out this kind of adventure is part of what it means to be human. Here’s hoping it’s not another 40 years before we make another giant leap for mankind.

(Image courtesy of dcysurfer. Some rights reserved.)