Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 12, 2022 23:55:17 GMT 12
Hillary Reviews Step On Moon
(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) ALBANY (New York), July 13.
To the adventurer who rose to one of the last great challenges on earth, man’s first step on the moon will be a glorious and sad event and one that is happening long before it should, the Associated Press reported. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, believes it will be hard to justify the enormous expenditure required to send Apollo 11 to the moon while mankind’s problems go unsolved.
“By all means progress in space, but not at the expense of spending money here on earth on problems of poverty and ignorance,” the New Zealander said in a recent interview.
He will turn 50 on July 20, the day before the American astronauts are to land on the moon.
“I regret to say that I am one of those who feel that the speed at which spaceflight has progressed is the result of politics—the competition between the United States and Russia,” he said.
He admits, however, that he would like to be with the two astronauts when they step on to the moon as “most men who have the spirit of adventure would.”
“Passing of Breed”
Yet Sir Edmund laments that the first footstep will mark the passing of his breed of explorer. "It’s rather sad,” he said, “that as man pushes further out into space he is going to exclude a large portion of the people who carried out exploring on the globe.
“The big thing is, it is such a highly specialised act that few people have the technical abilities to take part in it.”
It was on May 29,1953, that Sir Edmund and Tensing Norgay, a Sherpa tribesman from Nepal, reached the summit of Everest.
Sir Edmund compared the moon landing to reaching the peak of Mount Everest, and said that, despite what most people believe, the spacemen will not be overcome with a feeling of exhilaration when their feet touch lunar soil.
“When those fellows finally set foot on the moon, it will be something like stepping on the summit of Everest. You’re such a long way from home and there are so many problems getting there and getting back, you can’t afford to be swept away by emotion,” he said.
“You’ve got to concentrate on the job you have to do there and the important thing is getting down again.
"My first reaction was of relief that I had reached the top and I could go down again,” he said. “And then there was surprise that it was me there, where so many others wanted to be.”
PRESS, 15 JULY 1969
(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) ALBANY (New York), July 13.
To the adventurer who rose to one of the last great challenges on earth, man’s first step on the moon will be a glorious and sad event and one that is happening long before it should, the Associated Press reported. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, believes it will be hard to justify the enormous expenditure required to send Apollo 11 to the moon while mankind’s problems go unsolved.
“By all means progress in space, but not at the expense of spending money here on earth on problems of poverty and ignorance,” the New Zealander said in a recent interview.
He will turn 50 on July 20, the day before the American astronauts are to land on the moon.
“I regret to say that I am one of those who feel that the speed at which spaceflight has progressed is the result of politics—the competition between the United States and Russia,” he said.
He admits, however, that he would like to be with the two astronauts when they step on to the moon as “most men who have the spirit of adventure would.”
“Passing of Breed”
Yet Sir Edmund laments that the first footstep will mark the passing of his breed of explorer. "It’s rather sad,” he said, “that as man pushes further out into space he is going to exclude a large portion of the people who carried out exploring on the globe.
“The big thing is, it is such a highly specialised act that few people have the technical abilities to take part in it.”
It was on May 29,1953, that Sir Edmund and Tensing Norgay, a Sherpa tribesman from Nepal, reached the summit of Everest.
Sir Edmund compared the moon landing to reaching the peak of Mount Everest, and said that, despite what most people believe, the spacemen will not be overcome with a feeling of exhilaration when their feet touch lunar soil.
“When those fellows finally set foot on the moon, it will be something like stepping on the summit of Everest. You’re such a long way from home and there are so many problems getting there and getting back, you can’t afford to be swept away by emotion,” he said.
“You’ve got to concentrate on the job you have to do there and the important thing is getting down again.
"My first reaction was of relief that I had reached the top and I could go down again,” he said. “And then there was surprise that it was me there, where so many others wanted to be.”
PRESS, 15 JULY 1969
